Against the Odds
by Marquise de Nile
Summary: Written for SasuSaku Month 2013. A collection of one-shots. Ratings K-T. Complete.
1. Breaking Tradition

**Title:** Breaking Tradition

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

**Summary: **For her, Sasuke would break tradition.  
**Prompt:** Holding Hands  
**Rating:** K  
**AN: **Drabble, written on the spur of the moment. English isn't my first language.

* * *

At heart, Sasuke was a traditional man.

It had to do with his strict upbringing as the son of the Uchiha clan head. Even now, many years after his family's demise, as a grown man and the last Uchiha alive, he upheld the values and traditions he had been imbued with as a young child. It's been showing all the more after he'd come back to Konoha. As if to make up for the years he'd spent as the missing-nin, he worked harder than ever to bring back the glory to the Uchiha name.

Sakura was surprised when Kakashi visited to talk with her parents, but when he came back next Sunday with Sasuke in tow, she was just baffled. However, after she'd learned the purpose of that meeting she didn't know if she wanted to swoon or beat them both up. Apparently, in his specific roundabout, traditional fashion, Sasuke had decided to organize _omiai, _instead of asking her out like any other guy.

Thankfully, the meeting went well and her parents greatly approved of Sasuke's courtship. In the end, Sakura also accepted that course of action. After all, wasn't it her dream for him to return her feelings?

Determined to respect his wishes, Sakura resolved to be the perfect girlfriend, the girlfriend an Uchiha wouldn't be ashamed of. That is why, when Sasuke came to pick her up on their first official date, she demurely followed after him and to his left, as opposed to her usual keeping at his side when they went anywhere with their team.

Along their way, they passed another couple walking together hand in hand, openly showing affection in public. Sakura smiled sadly and stared longingly at Sasuke's hand. So lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize he stopped and bumped into him.

"I-I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun," she apologized, mortified at her lack of awareness of her surroundings.

"Stop it, Sakura," he said quietly.

She looked at him questioningly. He sighed.

"Don't walk behind me like that, it's annoying," he elaborated.

Then he grabbed her small hand in his own bigger one and pulled her along. And all the way through their date, Sakura couldn't stop smiling, because Sasuke kept her at his side, never letting go of her hand.

Because sometimes tradition needs to be broken.


	2. Without Hesitation

**Title:** Without Hesitation

**Summary: **Sakura learned from her mistakes.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Lessons Learned  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s):** Violence, blood, manga 635 spoiler. Set during and after the war.  
**Comments:** Thank you for the warm reviews and please enjoy the second chapter!

* * *

This time Sakura was prepared. Her hands steady, her kunai sharpened, her resolve – steeled.

When Sai had asked her how she felt about Sasuke joining the Alliance, she hadn't lied about trusting him. She knew he changed. No more did he project the dark, choking aura filled with murderous intent. If she had to compare him to something, she'd say he was like a katana – sharp, deadly, precise. However, a katana can as easily cut a friend as a foe.

That is why Sakura watched his every move carefully, knowing what exactly he was capable of to accomplish his goals. She trusted him, but not blindly. She couldn't let her feelings get in the way, because the stakes were much higher than just Team Seven's lives.

It had to be her, no one else. It was her responsibility. She owed that to both Naruto and Kakashi.

The Ten-Tails roared in agony, as it was hit with Naruto's Bijuudama, the drilling sound enough to render the combatants temporarily deaf. Sasuke's exhausted form straightened up and she saw him forming a long sequence of handseals.

Sakura acted without thinking.

Faster than she's ever been in her entire life, she flashstepped to the spot right behind him. Sasuke looked over his shoulder, his black eyes widening in alarm.

This time he couldn't have avoided it, even if his hands weren't busy.

This time she didn't hesitate as she drove her kunai into his back.

The bloody stain blossomed on the back of his shirt, staining also her hands as she cradled his lifeless body in her arms, not letting him fall to the ground.

Another roar shook the battlefield, signalizing the defeat of the Ten-Tails. The cheering erupted all around and Sakura smiled softly as she lowered herself on her knees, still holding Sasuke. Her hand lightly caressed his inky locks.

"S-sakura-chan?" Naruto appeared at her side, exalted at the victory, but froze at the sight in front of him.

She raised her gaze at him calmly. "I had to stop him."

"B-but... we won! Why... why did you do it? Sasuke was with us! He was finally back! He didn't have to be stopped! Sakura-chan!" Naruto started brokenly, but with every word more and more anger seeped into his voice, till he was shouting at her furiously.

Silently, she bore his wrath. Only when he paused for a breath, she spoke up.

"I did it because we were winning, Naruto."

"What!" Naruto was about to yell at her again, but a hand fell on his shoulder, diverting his attention to the new arrival.

"Naruto, calm down," Kakashi said, managing to sound as casual as if he didn't just come back from the death match with his old, treacherous comrade.

"Sakura killed Sasuke! How can I calm down?!"

"Concentrate. Sasuke's not dead," Kakashi informed him midly.

Taken aback, Naruto stilled and focused on feeling the chakra in Sasuke. It was so faint he could barely sense it.

"He's alive..." he whispered in wonder. "He's alive!"

Sakura nodded smiling.

Now nothing would mar their celebration of the end of the Fourth Shinobi War.

* * *

Sasuke woke up to the white.

At first he thought he was dead, but the dulled pain in his body told him otherwise. His muddled mind struggled to recall what had happened. All he remembered was the pink.

_Sakura..._

"Sasuke-kun! You're awake!" she exclaimed, appearing in his field of vision and he realized he'd said her name out loud.

Her cool hand laid gently on his forehead and the medical chakra spread through his body, soothing the pain he was in and making him relax, subconsciously leaning into her touch.

"There, all better," she said, taking away her hand. "You're recovering very well, for someone who had five broken ribs, multiple lacerations and suffered a severe case of chakra exhaustion."

Sasuke looked at her impassively, indicating that he didn't really care what injuries he'd sustained. "What did you do, Sakura?" The memories were slowly coming back to him. He'd planned to use Kirin and put an end to the Ten-Tails once and for all, but then... what?

His eyes narrowed in frustration as he regarded her. Sakura tensed and averted her eyes at his scrutiny. She licked her lips and he momentarily focused on them.

"Your reserves of chakra were very low. If you used that jutsu, you would have died..." she trailed off.

"You stabbed me," he stated, finally putting it together.

The silence descended on them as she looked away. Suddenly, she turned to him again, her eyes alit in determination.

"Yes, I stabbed you. With kunai coated in a sedative. And I'm damn proud of it, because it saved your life!" she raised her voice, but didn't shout. Their eyes met and he saw the fear and worry she couldn't quite hide – not from him.

"I'll tell Naruto and Kakashi they can visit you," she abruptly changed the topic.

Sasuke's gaze followed her as she headed for the exit.

"Sakura."

His voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Thank you."

He didn't see her smile or the small tear she quickly wiped. She could never kill him, but if it only took stabbing him in the back to have Sasuke alive in Konoha again, she'd gladly do it as many times as needed. That was the lesson she had learned after their encounter in Iron Country.

"You're welcome, Sasuke-kun."

Just being able to say that was the best reward for all her hardships and heartache.


	3. Evasion Skills

**Title:** Evasion Skills

**Summary: **The Beast appears. And Sasuke needs a push. Interested?  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Watching  
**Rating:** K  
**Warning(s): **None  
**Comments: **That prompt was hard, I had too many ideas! I think this one is the best.

* * *

Falling back into their familiar routine was ridiculously easy for the members of Team Kakashi. After Sasuke's return and with one additional person – Sai – they adapted surprisingly quickly to all their new selves. Sakura with her freakish strength and fearsome temper, Naruto with his new maturity and fame, Sai finally able to express his emotions, Kakashi no longer late for hours (just around thirty minutes to keep the tradition) and, last but not least, Sasuke – redeemed and free of the hatred that had poisoned him since the night of massacre – all of them reforged their bonds of friendship, becoming the most formidable team at Konoha's disposal.

A tool not sharpened is quick to dull, so even after the defeat of Madara and the beginning of the new era of peace Team Kakashi was frequently dispatched to deal with any external threats to the national security. Despite the treaty between all the major villages, the criminal underground still existed and rogue shinobis roamed the lands, willing to lend their deadly skills to anyone who offered the right price. Only the elite ninjas were sent to hunt them in order to guarantee the absolute success of the mission and prevent unnecessary loss of life.

Team Kakashi was coming back to Konoha from one of those missions, the spring in their steps and relaxed countenances indicating another job well done. Rested from the night spent in the motel, they had the energy to pick up the pace when they saw the looming gates of their home.

After approaching the guard station and exchanging light banter with Kotetsu and Izumo, the team reported their return and entered the bustling village. A few people on the streets recognized them and greeted them cheerfully.

"Yosh! It's good to be home!" Naruto pumped his fist in the air. "Let's get some ramen!"

"Naruto! It's too early for lunch!" Sakura pointed out.

"It's never too early for ramen, the food of gods!" he disagreed.

"Idiot," Sasuke scoffed and Naruto sent him a glare.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to the training grounds," Sakura announced, preventing the useless argument between her teammates.

"Eh? Why?" Naruto asked. Usually after missions she went home or reported straight to Tsunade.

A frown appeared on her heart-shaped face. "I need to work on my evasion skills. It seems like I'm slipping and I can't allow that." Sakura touched her left cheek referring to their mission. The A-class missing-nin they had fought managed to nick her there with his katana. Although it had been barely the scratch which she had healed with minuscule amount of chakra, Sakura's perfectionist nature took it like a personal failure. A medic was supposed to be able to dodge the enemy's attacks and she, trained by the best medic in the world, was supposed to dodge everything flawlessly.

"Guess I'll need a sparring partner. So, do any of you want to help me?" Sakura asked.

Before her teammates could answer, a loud voice erupted right behind them.

"What do I hear? Sakura-san needs a sparring partner? I, the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha, would be honored to participate in a youthful sparring session with you!"

"Bushy Brows..." Naruto groaned at the appearance of their unconventional, green jumpsuit wearing and, unfortunately, still in love with Sakura comrade.

Sakura's eyes looked panicked for a moment. "Aah... Lee-san..."

"Do not worry, Sakura-san! I'll hold back nothing! I'm sure I'll meet your high standards of a sparring partner so that you will benefit the most from our training together!" Lee showed her thumbs up and smiled, flashing them the blinding white teeth.

Sakura's gaze slid hopefully over her teammates, counting that they would save her from this predicament. She liked Lee, but he was a bit overwhelming at times. Like right now.

Her teammates however provided no way out. Kakashi giggled, immersed in his book, Sai smiled encouragingly, Naruto looked torn (probably not knowing what to choose – her or ramen) and Sasuke... Sasuke was glaring at Lee in annoyance. With a new hope, she gave him a pleading look but it didn't seem to reach him.

Sakura squashed the disappointment – of course Sasuke wasn't angry on her behalf, he just found Lee obnoxious – then turned to face the Green Beast who was holding out his hand to her expectantly.

"Shall we go to train in the springtime of youth, Sakura-san?" he asked.

She steeled herself, trying to look at the good side of his offer. Lee was insanely fast – surely avoiding his attacks would be helpful to polish her evasion skills even further.

"Yes, let's go, Lee-san," she smiled at him but didn't take his hand. "Bye!" she waved shortly to the rest of Team Kakashi and walked off with Lee.

Sasuke, who had maintained silence through the whole encounter, glared after them with furrowed brows and unconsciously clenched fists. Somehow, the view of Sakura's red clad back getting smaller in the distance next to Lee's green one caused a painful, acidic sensation in his chest and stomach.

"Stupid teme."

Sasuke turned his dark glare to Naruto who has insulted him.

"Hey, don't look at me like that, because it's true." The blonde regarded him with unexpected seriousness. "Go after her. If you just watch, nothing will ever happen."

"Tch." Sasuke didn't bother to reply to that bit of advice.

In the next second, he was off.

Needless to say, Lee was very surprised and distraught, when Sakura suddenly vanished right under his nose, snatched by the Uchiha. And Sakura's evasion skills soon improved from her frequent one-on-one training sessions with Sasuke.


	4. Rebel

**Title:** Rebel

**Summary: **Sasuke's past affects his parenting ability. Thankfully, he has Sakura.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Misspent Youth  
**Rating:** K  
**Warning(s): **Future, family.  
**Comments: **It was a hot day (around 30° C), so the heat got into the story too.

* * *

"Give me a rest, Dad!" the teenager whined. "It's too hot for that!"

Indeed, the merciless sun was beating down on every little spot unprotected from its harsh rays, the sweltering heat turning the open training ground into the oven. The boy looked longingly at the little patch of shade under the lone tree in the corner of the field.

"Maybe if you put more effort into your training instead of running off with that troublemaker, we wouldn't have to be here," Sasuke replied dryly. "Besides, a true ninja isn't impeded by any type of weather."

"But I'm just a genin! I have a lower endurance!" his son didn't give up on arguing his way out of training. However, Sasuke didn't budge.

"That's why you will work on improving it. Now." His tone was final and the boy recognized futility in trying to weasel out of this.

With a dark scowl he clearly inherited from his father, the teenager took out ten shurikens and threw them all at once at the training dummy. The result was rather disappointing – only half of them found their mark and none hit the critical areas. The boy glanced at Sasuke, expecting a harsh rebuke for the abysmal display, but got only an impassive look.

"Again," came the command.

The next attempt wasn't much better, the same with the third and fourth and so on. The numerous repetitions soon blurred into one exhausting cycle of failure. At some point, the teenager stopped even trying and chucked the weapons at the dummy without any finesse, hoping that it didn't matter how he did it but how long he spent there. The dinnertime was nearing, so the training had to be halted at last.

"We're going to stay here until you get it right," Sasuke said, dispelling that foolish notion.

His son gritted his teeth and nodded obediently, then walked away to gather the scattered shurikens. The boys hair was sticking to his skin due to the sweat and the dark shirt he wearing was soaked through.

The exercise commenced again. Sasuke observed the boy's technique closely, attempting to find out what was wrong with it. The posture, footing and wrist movement were appropriate, so why were the throws so inaccurate? He was honestly puzzled by this.

"That's it!" the teenager snapped after his worst attempt so far, his patience run out. "I've got enough of this! It's useless and I'm not going to waste my time on shuriken, when I can get myself a gun!"

Sasuke snorted. The guns, a new invention the ninjas started using a few years ago, were too unreliable in his opinion as a weapon. Any person who would favour it was a joke.

The teenager, familiar with that opinion, scowled even more. Apparently the sun and fatigue got to him, because he shouted carelessly.

"You can laugh, but not everyone can be a perfect, robot shinobi like you! Not me for sure, so I'm not gonna even try!" Before Sasuke could react to that accusation, the boy stomped off angrily. "I have better things to do than training all the time, like meeting with my friends!"

Sasuke was left in the training field, having half a mind to catch the boy and put a fear of God in him for showing such a cheek.

"You're too hard on him."

Sasuke turned to his wife, who had been sitting in the tree for some time and observing them. Dressed in a light summer yukata, which accentuated her unique pink her, she gracefully hopped down and approached him in swift strides.

"He needs to learn discipline."

Sakura shook her head. "It's not a problem here."

"Yes, it is! With his lack of seriousness, he'll only get killed!" Sasuke erupted, then caught himself and rubbed his head to calm down.

Sakura embraced him and he gratefully accepted the comfort from her. After so many years together, it came to him as naturally as breathing. In a way, Sakura and her love was like air to him – without her he couldn't live.

"He was wounded on the last C-rank. I have to be hard on him, so it won't ever happen again. You know I couldn't stand to lose him or you," Sasuke said quietly.

Sakura understood his fear, the deep-seated fear he held from the night of the massacre, when he had lost all of his family. When they started their own family, Sasuke vowed to do anything to protect it.

"I know, Sasuke-kun, but our son doesn't. He just thinks you're strict for no good reason," she explained.

"Then tell him," Sasuke demanded.

"Oh no, that's your job," Sakura chided him. Sasuke sighed in defeat.

Sakura stroked his hair lovingly as he buried his nose in her sweet smelling, pink locks, enjoying their closeness.

"Is it so bad that he wants to play around with the other kids some more? Unlike someone I know when he was that age," Sakura gave him a pointed look. "Let him have his childhood for a little longer, Sasuke-kun," she murmured.

He considered her words. He never had a real childhood and his own youth was spent single-mindedly focusing on revenge, which in the end turned out to be the biggest mistake of his life. His son had a happy life, free of the horrors and Sasuke couldn't really take it away in good conscience. If not for the massacre, would he himself have turned out the same way? Sasuke liked to think that yes, in another reality he could have been just like that.

"You're right," he conceded, deeply exhaling.

"That's why you married me," Sakura smiled and pecked him on the cheek. "Now go find our rebel. The dinner is ready and waiting for you two."

Sasuke nodded and turned to go, when she decided to add with a mischievous grin.

"And you can tell him that he shouldn't concentrate so much on not getting his fingers cut instead of throwing the shuriken."


	5. Blame It on the Flood

**Title:** Blame It on the Flood

**Summary: **Contains oblivious Sakura, vacuuming Sasuke and scandalized Naruto.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Flood  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Ecchi, some language.  
**Comments: **The longest chapter yet. Some sexiness, but nothing too bad. Enjoy!

* * *

It started with a flood.

That year the spring was incredibly wet. The sunny days could have been counted on fingers of one hand. The grey, billowy clouds seemed to become a permanent fixture on the sky and it was raining almost constantly. If the people of Konoha didn't know better, they would have thought they were living in the Land of Rain.

It was no wonder that the Nakano River rose to the high water stage, however no one expected that the situation would turn dramatic in such a quick succession. For a first time since the founding of Konoha, there was a flooding.

The inhabitants of the flooded area of the village had to evacuate from their houses and temporarily move to the emergency shelters or, if someone was lucky enough, with a friend or family who had a place in the part of Konoha unaffected by the disaster. There was nothing else anyone could do but wait for the water to lower, as pumping it out was out of the question, with every retention reservoir already filled to the brim by the rain water.

Basically, that's how Uchiha Sasuke, reformed after the war and of the respectable status of jonin, found himself homeless. When he'd been finally accepted back as a fully-fledged citizen, he hadn't come back to the Uchiha district, which had been leveled down in Pain's invasion, instead opting to buy himself a small place overlooking the riverbank, in a calm neighbourhood but not too distanced from the center of Konoha. Never the Uchiha clan would be sequestered and ostracized again and the beginning of that resolution was marked by Sasuke's choice to live among the general population of Konoha.

Who would have guessed there would be a damn flood just three months after he had moved in?

The other members of Team Kakashi felt for him and offered him to bunk over at their places. Unfortunately, their housing conditions left much to be desired. Kakashi lived in a small, one-bedroom apartment, where all the spare place was taken by his sizable porn collection. Naruto's place was in an eternally atrocious state, with a small couch which smelled of instant ramen and old socks. Sai was out of question, Sasuke could tolerate him on missions and team outings, but living with the guy was a bit too much. So, in the process of elimination the only one who was left available was Sakura.

Sakura, who had moved out from her parents to live on her own when she had made jonin, had a nice, two bedroom apartment near the Hokage tower and the hospital. With her wages as a jonin and a top medic in the village, she could afford a bigger living space and being a good teammate and friend agreed to let Sasuke take the guest bedroom for the duration of the flood.

The Uchiha thought that would be the end of his troubles. He was wrong. Dead wrong.

His torture started on Friday, that is the day of the flood and his forced relocation to Sakura's. He was standing on her doorstep, a duffel bag with necessities he'd managed to grab from his house before it was sunk nonchalantly slung over his shoulder, and getting increasingly more annoyed with the long wait for her to open up after he'd rung the doorbell three times. Finally, he heard the click of a lock.

"What took you..." he started saying in irritation but caught a sight of Sakura in nothing but a small towel protecting her modesty and barely managed to finish in a strangled voice "... so long?"

"Ah, I'm sorry! I was just taking a shower so I didn't hear you at first!" she replied, oblivious to Sasuke's gaze perusing her body. "Actually, you're early. Come in."

She showed him to the guestroom and went back to the bathroom to finish showering, unknowing that Sasuke was seriously second-guessing himself about staying with her and beating up himself mentally for being unable to look away from the expanse of glistening skin she inadvertently has shown to him. No matter how much he tried the image of the droplets of water sliding tantalizingly slow down her throat and disappearing beneath the towel couldn't leave his mind.

"Sasuke-kun, are you hungry? I'm having rice balls for supper!" Sakura called out.

Having calmed down, Sasuke followed her voice and stepped into the kitchen, where once again he was stopped in his tracks. Her back was turned to him as she was making tea at the counter and if he had thought that seeing her in the towel was bad then he found out something a lot worse. She was humming to herself and tapping her foot rhythmically, causing her bottom, clad in skin-tight micro shorts, to bounce and jiggle provocatively. Sasuke swallowed heavily and curled his hands into fists, resisting the sudden urge to check the softness of her behind. What was coming over him? He never remembered having such a strong reaction to a woman and Sakura wasn't even trying to seduce him!

With a set scowl on his face, he sat down at the table. Sakura didn't notice anything amiss about him, thinking he was still angry about the flood and he just did his best to keep his eyes away from her scantily dressed form.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, he soon learned that Sakura had a habit of wearing skimpy clothes around the house, usually a tank top and micro shorts combo. To spare himself the uncomfortable feelings she aroused in him, he settled on avoidance tactics, which worked well for most part. He still saw her at least once a day during supper.

Living with a woman was certainly a new experience for the Uchiha. For example, the sheer amount of various feminine objects laying around, more than a half of which he didn't have a clue what they were for, was startling.

Even if he managed to avoid Sakura, using her bathroom was making him equally uncomfortable. Firstly, it was the smell – the flowery, rich fragrance she used and which he'd come to know by catching a whiff of it during the rare occasions when she had hugged him. Secondly, the cosmetics. He would have never suspected a mere bottle of body moisturizing cream could send his mind reeling, overcome by the images of Sakura stepping out of shower, toweling herself dry, then squeezing the cream on her hands and massaging it sensually all over into her skin.

He had to take a very cold shower himself to cool off.

Sasuke didn't know whether Sakura was that dense or he was that good at keeping his stoic facade intact. Either way, he was pissed at her carelessness. She was housing a man and didn't make anything of it, wearing clothes that were barely decent and looking so damn tempting! What if he was someone else? Any other man would have probably already taken advantage of her by then, considering she didn't even close her bedroom door for the night. Sasuke decided that when he would move back to his house, he would make sure Sakura won't take in any strangers to live with her.

A few days after he had taken residence in Sakura's guestroom, she asked him to vacuum the apartment. He complied with that request, knowing it's the least he could do to thank her for her hospitality. It was mid-afternoon, when he started, the first half of the day spent on checking the water in river (it was still overflowing), then sparring with Naruto who challenged him usually four times a week. Knowing Sakura would come back from her shift at the hospital in less than an hour, Sasuke resolved to be quick about it.

He vacuumed the kitchen first, next was the bathroom and the guestroom. He didn't want to disturb Sakura's privacy, so he didn't go into her bedroom. That left only the living room for him to clean.

Sasuke thoroughly vacuumed the carpet in the middle of the room, before moving the sofa to the side. Just as he suspected, a thick layer of dust accumulated under the comfortable piece of furniture. He narrowed his eyes, perplexed as he spotted some black material bunched up there. He bent to pick it up.

Dusting the material off, he drew up and brought it to his eyes. He stared at it in confusion. It was creased and satiny. Sasuke flicked it and the garment unfolded.

To his utter shame and embarrassment, he realized he was holding Sakura's dirty panties. Somehow, instead in the hamper, they ended up under her sofa and of course he had to be the one to find them.

For a moment, he didn't know what to do, too dumbstruck by his discovery to think clearly. Finally, he decided to throw it with the rest of the dirty laundry and forget all of this ever happened.

And all would be right again, if not for the world's apparent need to screw the Uchiha over.

"Sasuke-kun, are you still... cleaning..."

Sasuke raised his panicked gaze and made eye contact with Sakura who has chosen that moment to return from work. He cursed his luck in his mind repeatedly. He didn't hear her opening the front door over the buzz of the vacuum cleaner he's left on. Now her large, green eyes took in the incriminating scene of him holding her underwear before his face like some kind of a pervert.

His voice was stuck in his throat. What could he say? Would she believe it was just an accident?

Sakura reddened and he thought she was going to bolt, but her gaze sharpened into a murderous glare. She strode up to him and snatched her panties away roughly.

"Sasuke, I would never expect that from you! How dare you!" Sakura shouted accusingly over the drone of the vacuum cleaner. Fuming in anger, she turned to switch it off.

Sasuke was hurt that she would lose her faith in him so easily, but the helpless, weak feeling quickly gave place to a surge of hot anger. Her reaction was the last straw for him.

Sakura yelped in shock when she was whirled around and pinned against the wall, the mad Uchiha right in her face with Sharingan activated and spinning in agitation. "What do you think you're doing!" she shrieked, glaring daggers at him.

"Shut up, Sakura," Sasuke said deceptively calmly. "It's all your fucking fault."

"Excuse me!" she cried out in outrage. How dare he blame her!

"It's your fault. You're the one who leaves her underwear laying all around the place and expects me not to fucking find it when I vacuum for you."

Sakura gaped at his bold words, growing even more incensed. "Let me go, you bastard! Pervert!"

Sasuke chuckled mirthlessly.

"Now I'm a pervert? Everyday, you are flaunting your body to me, parading in such small clothes, and you call _me_ a pervert?" he hissed out, pressing her harder against the wall.

"You... were looking?" she asked, genuinely shocked he had taken notice of her appearance. He was always so inscrutable and she had never seen him paying attention to any woman, no matter how little clothing she had on.

"Yes, I was looking. And I'm fed up with it," Sasuke growled and captured her lips in a kiss so passionate, it took her breath away.

Sakura, at first taken aback, reciprocated the kiss with equal aggression, her hands tangling in his hair and pulling. Sasuke let out a rumbling sound of pleasure in his throat, as his palms wandered down her slight frame, making her gasp and tremble in his hold. Finally, they landed on her bottom and squeezed experimentally.

Sakura pulled forcefully away from the kiss. "Stop it... we can't..." she protested, panting harshly.

"We can and we will," Sasuke replied, swooping down to reclaim her lips.

However, since the situation turned in the Uchiha's favour, the malicious world needed to screw him over.

The doorbell rang.

"Sasuke... someone's at the door!" Sakura pulled away again.

"Ignore them," he mumbled, laying down feverish kisses on her jaw and throat.

The persistent newcomer started banging on the door.

"What if... it's important?" Sakura gasped out.

Sasuke cursed. "Wait here," he ordered and she was too dazzled to get offended by it.

He flung the door open abruptly, ready to send the person who interrupted them screaming in terror.

"Teme! Finally!"

"Naruto. What do you want?" Sasuke crossed his arms, glaring at his supposed best friend. It really didn't feel like it at that moment.

"So cold. I came to tell you that they found a way to pump out the flood water. A jutsu or something..." Naruto scratched his head, trying to remember. "Anyway, you'll be able to move back home in a few days! Isn't it great news?"

"What news?" Sakura came to the door, curious at hearing Naruto's loud voice.

"Ah, Sakura-chan! Sasuke's moving back home soon, so he won't be bothering you anymore!"

"Is that so?" she asked in a low tone, looking directly at Sasuke. However, her question wasn't rhetorical. After what had happened between them in the living room, it had a deeper meaning.

He answered her searching stare with his own determined one.

"I like to finish what I started. So I will be bothering you a lot more... if you want, Sakura," he declared boldly.

"Sasuke-kun..." she whispered, overwhelmed by happiness. "Yes, I'd like that."

Sasuke smirked triumphantly and kissed her again, uncaring of Naruto's scandalized presence next to them. At the moment, only the woman in his arms mattered.

And it was all because of the flood. Who would have guessed?


	6. The New Beginning

**Title: ** The New Beginning

**Summary: **Sasuke is degraded from an ANBU captain to a glorified babysitter.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Babysitting  
**Rating:** K  
**Warning(s): **None.  
**Comments: **That was fun to write. Enjoy!

* * *

Sasuke exited the Hokage's office in a foul mood.

Recently, Sakura has been complaining about him spending too much time away from the village. Being the doting husband he was, he has asked Naruto, the Sixth Hokage, for some downtime. He should have suspected something was off when the dobe relieved him from his ANBU duties for a whole month. How did the scheming escape his notice was beyond him.

Maybe he should give more credit to Naruto. He was called the most accomplished prankster in Konoha for a reason.

When Sasuke was summoned to the Hokage's office this morning, he thought nothing of it. He just knew that the dobe couldn't get anything done without his help. So he was a bit surprised that instead of facing an emergency and panicking Naruto, a folder was thrusted in his direction by the smirking blond. Grabbing the papers reflexively, Sasuke eyed his best friend distrustfully.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Just read it," Naruto urged, still smirking.

Sasuke gave him a hard look and shifted his attention to the folder. Opening it, he found three photos of some kids and reading through the files he learned they were all Academy students.

He looked at Naruto disbelievingly. _He wouldn't dare..._

"So? Aren't you excited?" the blond inquired innocently.

"About what?" Sasuke spat out.

Naruto looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. "Well, you're going to become a jonin sensei! It's a cause for celebration!"

And that's what led Sasuke to his angry exit from the office.

What was the dobe even thinking? Sasuke didn't want to be a teacher. He didn't even like children. Sasuke kicked a pebble on the roadside, walking to the Academy. Willingly or not, he had to go see the brats.

Hokage's orders. Tch.

For the most promising students of the graduating class, the three kids he was saddled with weren't anything special. One boy was stuck up, probably thinking he was the second coming of the Sage of Six Paths and God's gift to shinobi world, the other couldn't shut up for a minute, blabbering about this and that in a headache-inducing manner. The girl proudly proclaimed her ambition of becoming Sakura's apprentice, which was more than laughable when knowing from her Academy records that she had the poorest grasp on her chakra from all three kids.

Sasuke would want nothing more than fail them right off the bat, but Naruto had made him promise to give them a fair assessment in the field. So after the introductions he ordered them to come the next day to the Training Ground 3 at five in the morning and shunshined away.

"It's nice to have you home in time for dinner," Sakura smiled at him, when he trudged into the kitchen tiredly.

Sasuke grunted and helped her set the table. They ate their meal in a companionable silence. Being with his wife and eating her delicious cooking definitely did wonders to improve Sasuke's mood.

They stood up to clean the dishes together. In accordance with their established routine, Sakura was washing them in the sink and Sasuke was drying them and putting back in the cabinet.

"How was your day? What did Naruto want?" she asked.

Sasuke sighed at the remembrance. "He assigned me a genin team."

Sakura hummed in thought. "It's about time. You're the only one from our old team who doesn't have his own students."

"Sakura, I don't know a thing about teaching. I'd sooner accidentally kill these kids than teach them anything," he replied irritatedly, trying to make her see how bad of an idea was it to make him a jonin sensei. His argument didn't seem to convince her.

She toweled her hands off, finished with the dishes and turned to him with a gentle smile, which took his breath away. Even two years after their marriage, she still could do this to him when he was caught off guard.

"Sasuke-kun, don't worry," she said, taking his hand in her own and playing with his fingers. The sight of a wedding ring on one of them always made her feel giddy. "Nothing bad will happen. I know you'll be a great teacher."

Her tender reassurance caused the apprehension he didn't even realize he was feeling all along to disappear. A smile tugged at his own lips and impulsively he leaned down to place a light kiss on her lovely lips.

When they parted, Sasuke didn't say anything, but the look in his dark eyes was enough to express his gratitude, which his wife easily deciphered.

"You know, teaching these kids would be a good practice for you, Sasuke-kun," she whispered, tracing patterns on his hand she was still holding through this whole exchange.

He gave her a questioning look and she giggled.

"After all, you're going to need to learn how to take care of our baby," she came out with the news and placed his hand on her flat stomach.

He gaped at her in shock, a lump in his throat preventing him from speaking. Sakura frowned at his lack of visible reaction.

"You could act happier, you know, you're going to be a daddy," she said in a huff.

He didn't respond verbally, unable to find the words that could describe the overwhelming joy and love that were threatening to make his heart burst from their strength. So instead he just kissed her, hoping to convey in it all that he wanted to tell her.

Judging by her moans and happiness shining in her expressive green eyes, he succeeded.


	7. Reconciliation

**Title:** Reconciliation

**Summary: **"Sakura went off the deep end, Sasuke concluded." A lethal paper clip is involved.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** The Deep End  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Language.  
**Comments: **The first week is done! Yosh!

* * *

Sakura went off the deep end, Sasuke concluded. Because what else would you call a situation in which someone tries to murder you with a paper clip?

What was more than a little alarming was that she had almost succeeded. He narrowly dodged the the projectile aimed at his eye and heard it embedding in a wall with a dull _thunk!_, then swiveled around to face the snarling kunoichi. If he had more time, he would have been appreciative of the ingeniousness of her attack – she hadn't gone for her weapon's pouch, which would have alerted him immediately to her intentions, instead choosing to straighten a damn paperclip and throw it at him, imbuing it with her chakra – but he was too busy avoiding her flying fists. Although they were both dangerously low on their reserves, he knew that even if she just clipped him, it would be an instant game-over for him.

Before she suddenly decided to go crazy on him, she had been patching up his non-life-threatening injuries leftover from the healing right after the last battle of the Fourth Shinobi War. At first, Sasuke hadn't wanted to go, but the slash at his side had been bothering him so much, he had been forced to seek the medical help and who else was better to go to than his old teammate? In other words, he didn't have a lick of trust for all the other medics and even though he was now on Alliance's side, he seriously doubted they would agree to heal him without a hassle. With Sakura, he had been sure she would be competent and unobtrusive _(and she wouldn't fear him)_, as he had seen on the battlefield how much she's changed since Team Seven's past days.

His choice to go to her had had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it would be the first time since he had left Konoha that they would be alone with each other, Sasuke had told himself.

For the most part, his visit had gone as he had predicted earlier – Sakura had been mostly silent, occasionally giving him instructions as she had fussed with the bandages. So he had been sitting shirtless on the medical cot and waiting patiently for her to get whatever she had needed from the cabinet and finish binding his wound when she had struck at him seemingly out of the blue.

Now, Sasuke had to deal with the furious kunoichi swinging at him madly while having absolutely no idea what had set her off in the first place. Granted, the war was both a psychologically and physically taxing endeavor, but he had a feeling it wasn't the cause for Sakura to come undone.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. He needed to quickly subdue her before she harmed herself or him. Or caused the building to collapse.

_Easier said than done_, he thought, ducking under a swipe that could have taken his head clean off shoulders and put a permanent end to the Uchiha bloodline.

"Sakura, stop this nonsense!" he raised his voice, hoping his call would be enough to make her see reason again, but to no avail.

"Shut up, you bastard, and stop running away!" she roared, possibly getting even more enraged, then charged at him again, her fist glowing with chakra.

This time, when he dodged her attack, he simultaneously wrapped his fingers around her wrist, but she was quick to shake him off before he tightened his hold. Their game of cat and mouse continued, but with both of them on their last legs after the final battle they knew it wouldn't take long.

Letting out a loud battle cry, Sakura ran at Sasuke once more. He was prepared to intercept her punch and finally restrain her, when he saw her stumble on a bag of supplies laying on the floor. Moving on instinct, Sasuke broke her fall, catching her securely in his arms. His hands clamped on her wrist, preventing her from further attacking.

For a second, when she looked up at him and there was that awed and affectionate expression on her face mixed with a bit of embarrassment, he could swear she was back to normal. Then her eyes narrowed into tiny slits as her look became downright venomous.

"Let go! Let me go, you bastard!" she spat out, struggling and he got the impression she would like nothing more than to slug him in the jaw. Sasuke tightened his already vice-like grip.

"What the hell has gotten into you, Sakura?" he asked, his brow twitching in irritation.

"Don't do that! Don't pretend that you're worried because you're not! You damn imposter!" she screamed out, trashing against his hold.

He didn't know what led her to believe he was someone else, but he had to put a stop to it. "Don't be annoying, I'm not an imposter," he snapped at her.

Sakura bit her lip as she stared at him with suspicion. The man restraining her acted so well she was almost convinced he was the real Sasuke. If she didn't know her teammate for so long, she would have been deceived by him.

The first sign that he wasn't who he was posing to be had been easily overlooked – though it wasn't very Sasuke-like to ask her for help, she had figured his injuries forced him to do so. After all, it would have been foolish of him to deny himself the treatment. However, when she had instructed him to take off his shirt, so she could have a better access to his wounds, and for a split second he had given her that very strange look, it had caught her attention. She had felt something with him was different.

What really had set the alarm bells ringing had been the way he had reacted to her closeness and touch. When she had leaned around him to wrap the bandage around his back, she could hear his shallow, quick and irregular breathing, which he had intentionally managed to calm down. However, he hadn't been able to do the same with his accelerated heartbeat, which she had felt with her medical chakra. Also, whenever her fingers had even merely brushed against his skin, his muscles had coiled, as if overly sensitive to the gentlest of touches.

All of that could have been attributed to some medical condition or even just nervousness – there had been a time when she had attempted to kill him, so she wouldn't have exactly blamed him for being cautious – but he had been sneaking glances at her in a way too reminiscent of a few other male patients she had treated. Like that Iwa-nin who had given her a love letter.

And there was absolutely no chance in hell that Uchiha Sasuke would ever feel attraction to her. Therefore, the man who had come in for the healing wasn't Uchiha Sasuke from the start.

But as she looked at his familiar features, surveying her with confusion and a bit of concealed worry, Sakura felt this anxious clench in the pit of her stomach that she had only ever felt around the real Sasuke. So she licked her lips, not missing the way his dark eyes homed in on them for a second there, and challenged him.

"Prove it," she demanded. "Prove that you're the real Sasuke."

"Our first mission out of Konoha. You cried when you thought I died from Haku's senbon," he recalled their shared memory of the fight in Wave Country.

"That's too old information, anyone could have learned about it," Sakura countered his proof.

Sasuke thought of something else, unable to refute her statement. "If you want something more recent, on the bridge in Iron Country you asked to come with me and I told you to kill Karin to show me you weren't lying."

Sasuke grimaced inwardly at the remembrance of that dark time when he had been consumed by his hatred and lost to the madness. Some of his internal regret must have been reflected in his expression, because Sakura's own one noticeably softened.

"Zetsu was there and there are other people who know about it," she reminded him.

Sasuke growled in frustration. "Damn it, Sakura..."

She looked at him firmly and he just wanted to end this. So he recalled the memory no one else but the two of them was privy to.

"When I was leaving the village, you begged me to stay. You told me you would make my every day fun and that I would be happy. You said that you..." he trailed off, because she was crying and smiling and she pressed her cheek against his shoulder. Sasuke could feel the wetness of her tears on his bare skin. His grip became lax and she shrugged it off her wrists to wrap him in a gentle embrace, mindful of his injuries. He returned it hesitantly, laying his hands in the middle of her back.

"Sasuke-kun, it's really you..." Sakura sobbed out, but he heard the wrenching happiness in her voice.

"Yes, it's me..." Sasuke replied, suddenly feeling tired to the bone, as the tension left his body. That day was more than eventful for both of them.

"I'm sorry I thought that it wasn't you," she whispered, hiding her face from him in embarrassment.

He just sighed. "You have nothing to be sorry about," he said, looking at some distant point. Gathering courage, he told her what he has wanted to say for some time already. "Sakura... I'm sorry. For everything that I've done to you and our team, please forgive me."

Sakura pulled away slightly to look at him and he met her gaze, letting her see his sincerity. A small smile bloomed on her still a little damp face.

"You're back, that's what counts..." she replied.

"Aa."

They stood together, entwined in the comfortable embrace and for a first time in years they both felt truly content and in peace. They didn't know what all of that meant, yet, but they were sure the future was going to be better and brighter and that was enough for them.

* * *

_AN: So the first week of SasuSaku Month is finished. Hurray!_

_Please let me know which story you liked the most, if there is anything to improve on in my writing and anything you'd like to tell me. For now, the lack of reader response is kind of killing me and I have half a mind to go finish some other non-SasuSaku stories. This is my first attempt at SasuSaku and I don't have a clue if I'm doing it right. I'm just sort of letting my imagination take over and write whatever it comes up with, so a second opinion would be helpful._


	8. Her Prince Charming

**Title:** Her Prince Charming

**Summary: **Sakura thought D-rank missions were a piece of cake.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Accidents Happen  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Genin era. Blood.  
**Comments: **Writing SasuSaku in genin times is very different.

* * *

The day was warm and sunny and Sakura couldn't help but smile, even though Kakashi-sensei had been for the millionth time late and they were stuck with a lame D-rank mission of repairing the roof on a farm just outside Konoha. After the terror the team had gone through on the C-rank in Wave Country, fighting the A-class missing-nin Momochi Zabuza and his accomplice Haku and having a close brush with death, the menial labour on the farm, while there was such a pleasant weather (nothing like the mist and damp cold air), seemed to her almost like a vacation.

Sakura never told anyone just how much that mission rattled her. Being unable to do anything when her teammates fought for their life and then thinking that Sasuke actually died had been a terrifying but necessary wake-up call for the young kunoichi. In the field, during a real ninja mission the things she had always had been praised for at the Academy, like her memorization skills and mastery of Clone Jutsu, meant next to nothing, insignificant against the power of their adversaries. Sakura had never felt so helpless and pathetic in her life and she hated it.

The reoccurring nightmares didn't help her to get back her equilibrium. Almost every night she was tortured by the scene of Sasuke's supposed death, but in her dreams he didn't wake up, staying ghostly pale, cold and unresponsive and _he didn't breathe._ She tried to give him a heart massage, she screamed for help, she cried for Kakashi-sensei and Naruto to come and then unfailingly she always heard a deep, ominous chuckle from the rolling, thick mist, causing her to freeze in fright. It was Zabuza who came out, blood dripping from his large sword and severed heads of Kakashi and Naruto, which he held by their hair.

She woke up from these horrible nightmares soaked in sweat and still trembling, her face wet with tears. Only when she reassured herself that the mission was over and Zabuza was dead, she could go back to sleep.

Compared to Wave Country, a simple D-rank was a piece of cake. Sakura grinned and hummed to herself as she worked on tearing off the old tiles from the roof. The job was easy since they were all cracked and coming away practically by themselves and Sakura didn't mind the rising temperature as the sun reached its zenith. Secretly, she was counting on Sasuke, who was nailing the new tiles to the roof, to take off his shirt. She'd never seen him without one before, so it would have been a real treat.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! Look what I've got!"

She yelped and almost fell of the roof, so lost in her fantasies she didn't notice Naruto climbing up to join them, his loud greeting catching her entirely off guard.

"You idiot! Don't sneak up on me like that! You scared me to death!" she scowled at the blond, who smiled sheepishly.

"Eh, sorry, sorry, Sakura-chan, I won't do it again. But look!" he proudly presented her with a long part of a gutter. "I brought it up here all by myself! I'm awesome, aren't I?" Naruto puffed up proud like a peacock, sure he would impress his beloved Sakura-chan with this display of strength and manliness.

"You need to remove the old gutter first, dobe," Sasuke snorted from his spot a few meters away.

"You're just saying that because you couldn't have lugged this heavy thing all the way up here, teme!" Naruto retorted.

"I wouldn't have needed to lug it – I would've lifted it the smarter way," Sasuke said smugly, the implication that Naruto wasn't smart ringing clear in his words.

"Why, you..." the blond growled, taking a step in his direction.

Sasuke raised himself from his knees with a smirk, anticipating the fight.

Sakura also got up, not wanting her teammates to mess up the mission because of their rivalry. "Naruto, Sasuke's right, you should stop playing around and return this gutter where you took it from."

"But, Sakura-chan...!" he whined, turning abruptly to look at her.

The metallic, heavy and long part of gutter he had hoisted on his shoulder swerved dangerously and clocked Sakura on the side of her head. The stars burst before her eyes and she saw the enveloping black.

The boys watched in horror as her unconscious body swayed and tumbled from the roof.

"Sakura!"

"Sakura-chan!"

* * *

_Sasuke was so pale... Her shaking hands touched his cold skin and her chin wobbled when she noticed he didn't have a pulse._

"_Sasuke-kun... please, no...please, don't be dead..." she pleaded, kneeling at his side and compressing his chest with all her might. But there was no response, his heart still and dead..._

_The tears were freely running down her face as she cried out her anguish and pain._

"_Kakashi-sensei! Naruto! Anyone! Help! Please, help!" she called in vain._

_The dreaded chuckle sounded and the thick mist parted revealing Zabuza._

"_They won't come, little girl... They'll never come... Because I killed them!" he laughed uproariously, showing her two chopped off heads – one with silver and the other with blond hair._

"_No! Please no!" she covered her face with her hands. She heard Zabuza's steps. He was going to kill her too..._

With a gasp, Sakura woke up and sat up suddenly, the cold compress falling from her forehead onto her lap. She looked around frantically and winced, clutching her temple, which flared in pain at the movement.

"You should stay still."

She carefully looked to the side and saw Sasuke, sitting cross-legged, with an open bento laying on his legs. She hastily scrubbed at her eyes, preventing the tears of relief that it was all just a dream and he was alive and well.

"Sasuke-kun... what happened?" she asked, not remembering how did she get there. From what she gathered, she was under a tree near the farm which roof they had been contracted to repair, but the last place she could recall being at was the roof itself.

"That idiot hit you with the gutter's part and you fell off the roof. You have a concussion," Sasuke explained.

"Oh..." Sakura looked down and tried to collect the fuzzy memories of Naruto being his irritating self that surfaced. "Um... Who caught me? When I fell?" she questioned, raising her gaze at Sasuke hopefully. She wanted him to be the one who saved her.

"Kakashi," the answer made her slump in disappointment.

"I see..." Sakura sighed.

Sasuke went back to his lunch while she picked up the compress from her lap and pressed it against the bump on her head. She hissed at the coldness, but kept it there to sooth the throbbing.

Sakura didn't know how long she sat there in quiet, alone with Sasuke. When Kakashi and Naruto came back, it seemed like too short of a while to her.

"Sakura-chan! You're awake!" Naruto hollered from the distance right after he caught the sight of her. "I'm so, so sorry for hitting you! It was an accident, honest!" he ran to her side and apologized profusely.

Sakura winced at the volume.

"Be quiet, dobe, she has a concussion," Sasuke interjected, standing up, his bento finished.

"Ah, sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered loudly. "Do you want me to bring you water? Or anything else? Are you hungry?"

Sakura tried to shook her head, but the pain stopped her, so she just told him that she didn't want anything. The mere thought about eating made her feel nauseous.

"Naruto, Sasuke, I think you should go to the roof and finish up there," Kakashi, who was just observing them up to that point, decided it was the right moment to send the boys back to work.

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm fine! I can help too," Sakura scrambled to her legs, but suddenly felt dizzy. Kakashi stabilized her with his arm and urged her to take the seat again.

"You're in no condition to work, Sakura. Just rest up, the boys can complete the mission by themselves," he assured her, taking out his orange book and joining her in the shade of a tree.

Sakura complied with a sigh.

It was the late afternoon when the roof was finally repaired and the team headed back to Konoha. Even though Sakura insisted that she could walk, Kakashi gave her a piggyback ride, which she accepted in resignation. Being so weak and helpless made her feel bad, something she didn't want to ever experience again after Wave Country.

At the gates the team split. Kakashi had to give the report to the Hokage and Naruto volunteered to take her home, saying he wanted to make up for hurting her. Although disappointed that it wasn't Sasuke, Sakura agreed.

She was quite baffled when instead of going in the direction of her house, Naruto took a path opposite to it. Positioned on his back as he carried her, Sakura tucked in her face, hiding from the curious stares of the villagers, praying that no one she knew saw her, so at first she didn't notice that the blond took the wrong turn.

"Where are you going, you idiot? I don't live around here," she pointed out in annoyance.

"Well, I'm hungry and you didn't eat anything all day, so I thought you are too, that's why I'm taking you out for ramen, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned, thinking she would be amazed and thankful.

On the contrary to his wishes, Sakura was pretty angry but didn't have the strength to hit him. Besides, her appetite was coming back and she wouldn't mind to grab a bite before heading home.

Naruto deposited her gently on the stool in Ichiraku Ramen and cheerfully ordered a miso ramen. Sakura asked for a vegetarian one. Soon, two bowls were set before them.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, you know," Naruto began, already on his second helping, "it's almost like we're on a date."

Sakura choked on her soup. A date? With Naruto? She liked him as her teammate but she didn't want to have her first date with him! She pushed back her barely touched bowl of ramen and stood up.

"Thanks, but I have to go. I just remembered something," she gave an excuse.

"But, but Sakura-chan?! You're hurt! And what about your ramen?" Naruto protested.

"I'm fine and you can have it!" she called over her shoulder, marching off as quickly as she could without breaking into run.

Even though Naruto was fooled by her lie, Sakura was anything but fine. When the adrenaline caused by her sudden getaway disappeared from her system, she became lightheaded again. She had to lean on the walls of the buildings, so she wouldn't keel over while walking slowly. The earlier exertion made her feel weakened all over her body and there was an unpleasant churning in her belly.

Clutching at her middle, she made her way to a clump of bushes, where she fell to her knees and emptied her stomach. After she regurgitated what little food she had eaten, Sakura crawled away from there and tried to stand up, however her legs buckled beneath her. She felt so miserable that she just wanted to curl up and die.

Why when she really needed help, no one was around to give it?

"What the hell are you doing here?" she heard a familiar voice and looked up, giving herself a whiplash.

"Sasuke-kun?" she uttered, not daring to believe that he was there.

But yes, Sasuke was standing before her and looking a little irritated. She hoped that it wasn't directed at her.

"How did you find me?" she asked.

"I saw the dobe at the ramen stand. The idiot shouldn't have let you go home by yourself..." Sasuke explained, looking even more annoyed. "Come on, I'll escort you," he held out his hand to help her stand up.

Sakura blushed and took it. However, when she got up, her vision darkened and she stumbled. Sasuke caught her by her arms to keep her upright.

"I'm sorry... I think I can't walk now..." Sakura whispered out, averting her eyes.

Sasuke grunted, then unceremoniously picked her up, but, unlike Kakashi and Naruto, he held her bridal style. Her blush deepened.

"S-Sasuke-kun?" she stammered out.

"Hold on tight, I'm taking the faster way."

In Konoha's ninja talk, it meant hopping on the rooftops, so Sakura hesitantly wrapped her arms around his neck. After making sure that she was secure in his arms, Sasuke took off.

Sakura was enjoying the ride very, very much. Inwardly, she was squealing and dancing. To her, it ended all too soon as Sasuke landed softly in front of her house and gently put her down.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun," she said, giving him a bright smile, her hands clasped in a shy manner before her.

He grunted and looked her over to see if she would need more help.

Not expecting him to say anything else to her, Sakura was about to open the door, when he spoke up. "What did you dream about when you were unconscious?"

She turned to him, shocked by his question. He was the first person to notice her nightmares.

"It's nothing..." she lied, but Sasuke's piercing gaze picked up on it.

"Just tell me what it was about," he insisted and she found herself unable to deny him.

"It's just the memory from the bridge, when I thought you were... dead. In the dreams, you really die and then Naruto and Kakashi-sensei are also killed..." she revealed in a quiet tone, staring at her feet. She didn't want to see Sasuke's reaction to her irrational worries.

If she looked up, she could have seen how his expression softened as he looked at her.

Sasuke sighed. "Sakura," he called, grabbing her attention.

When she raised her gaze up to him, he continued. "I'm not going to die. Not until I accomplish my ambition," his dark eyes hardened, showing his resolve.

Sakura stood there for a second, the awe and admiration swelling in her, then gave him her best smile. "Yes, I know, Sasuke-kun."

"Is someone at the door? Sakura, is that you?" the moment was interrupted by the voice of Sakura's mother, coming from inside the house.

"I have to go," the girl told Sasuke and opened the door, entering her home.

Only when she was inside, the Uchiha once again took to the rooftops.

This night Sakura's nightmares stopped for good.


	9. Choking the Light

**Title:** Choking the Light

**Summary: **Hatred is all he lives for and the light can't reach him anymore.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Bugs  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Crazy Sasuke, introspective.  
**Comments: **This prompt didn't inspire me much, but here you go.

* * *

Konoha. The Village Hidden in the Leaves.

It was a place he hated the most. Mind you, he hated a lot of other places – Orochimaru's hideouts didn't exactly bring him good memories – but Konoha was special. That accursed village took everything from him – his clan, his parents, his brother, plunging him into the hell of loneliness and anguish, just so it could selfishly prosper unchallenged in its ways.

That place lied to him. It made him and all of the Uchihas suffer.

But no more will it go unpunished. Konoha was going to pay for its crimes.

Maniacal laughter bubbled up in his throat and he let it out free, uncaring of who might hear him. The man who called himself Madara wasn't around and no one else would dare to tread these maze-like corridors lightly.

Surrounded by velvet, welcoming darkness, he felt it flowing through him, through the bandaged eyes of his brother which he accepted as his own into the rest of his body. The power of hatred burned through his tissues straight to the bones, then rebuilt him inside out in preparation for fulfillment of his ultimate purpose. It rejuvenated him with its strength so he wouldn't succumb to exhaustion until the very end.

There had been not a distant time when it couldn't have been possible for him not to recoil at this foul energy, which now he allowed to run through him, ride him, possess him. There had been a time when he had doubts about how to obtain his revenge. But now he was just disgusted that he had been so weak that anything less than complete obliteration of Konoha would have satisfied him.

Even though Konoha was a hive of hypocritical parasites, living off the deaths of his clansmen, Sasuke had wanted to spare the few people who had eased his suffering there – his old teammates. He had cut his bonds with them, but he hadn't wished them dead. Not until the betrayal.

Sakura, the one who had proclaimed to love him so long ago, he almost started believe it was nothing but a dream, had come to him armed with deception on her lips and poisoned kunai behind her back. And he had seen the proudly displayed leaf symbol on her headband and the coldness in her expressive eyes, which could never hide anything from him, and he had known – that she was nothing but a loyal Konoha pawn, sent by these lying bastards to take him off guard and kill him. They must have thought that his past bond and the affection he'd held once for her would make him stay his blade.

He had no mercy for traitors.

Brainwashed by Konoha, she would never be capable of seeing the truth of its corruptness. She wasn't the same innocent girl he had known as a genin. She was on the enemy side, so he would crush her, along all the other pathetic, insignificant bugs that inhabited Konoha, ignorant and indifferent to the Uchiha tragedy as they lived out their pathetic, insignificant, _happy _lives.

Once, she had been the sole light in his life, reaching him in his loneliness in ways Naruto's friendship couldn't have reached. Her warmth, her smile, her tears – she had made him feel something else beyond pain and anger. Now, it all belonged to the past.

The light dimmed, turning away from him and he closed the shutters so it could never touch him again. His heart was beating only for the revenge, stone cold and firmly entrenched in shadows as he walked down his dark path.

Laughter came out as he vividly remembered grabbing Sakura's frail neck and choking, her pulse pounding under his fingers when he almost killed her and he imagined that she was Konoha, treacherous and helpless against the might of Uchiha. He laughed madly as he saw in his mind how he would slit its throat and bath in its hot, spurting blood. The rivers of red would run down the streets and black fire would consume the buildings as the screams of the damned would reverberate under the Hokage Mountain crumbling into nothing.

He licked his lips, basking in the vision of that glorious day when his revenge would be complete.

Yes, he would snuff out all the light and plunge Konoha in despair it's never known before.


	10. Way to a Man's Heart

**Title:** Way to a Man's Heart

**Summary: **After war, Sakura brings her teammates a treat. It has a strange effect on Sasuke.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Recipe  
**Rating:** K  
**Warning(s): **None.  
**Comments: **It was hard to find the right moment to end this.

* * *

Sakura strode easily down the path to her team's new training ground. It was located a good distance away from Konoha and assigned to them in order to minimize the danger of accidental damages to the village property and stray jutsus hitting innocent passers-by. That was one of the consequences of having a team consisting of S-class powerhouses, whose single techniques had more devastating effects than whatever a battalion of other ninjas could throw together.

One would say that having a special training ground reserved specifically for one team's use was a great privilege, but normally Sakura found it more of an annoyance. However, this day she was in such a good mood that she didn't mind the long walk. What was there for her to complain about? The weather was great, the war had been won months ago, all her patients in hospital were getting better without complication, even Tsunade-sama didn't drink too much, and most importantly, Sasuke was home.

A few months after the end of war, Sakura still sometimes thought it was just a dream. There were instances when she woke up in the morning and had to pinch herself to make sure that she was really wide awake and didn't have to go search for the Uchiha anymore, because he returned home. The team's wounds from separation and all that had happened since he had left were almost completely healed now and their bond seemed to grow stronger with every new day together.

Sakura smiled to herself as she heard loud voices from the clearing ahead. Her teammates seemed to be also in good spirits today.

She turned the corner and stopped to survey the scene before her. The clearing wasn't as demolished as it would usually be, but there were signs of a fierce battle taking place there not so long ago. The scorch marks on the ground and surrounding shrubbery suggested the ample use of fire techniques and the spiral shaped indentations on a few trees indicated a few Rasengans that missed their target. The black stains and splotches here and there meant that Sai's ink monsters had also been sent into the fray.

Sakura's three teammates were sitting on the grass under one of the trees, looking beaten up but satisfied from their spar. She walked up briskly to them.

"Sakura-chan! You've come!" Naruto waved to her joyously, noticing her first. "You said you couldn't train with us today?"

"There was less work at the hospital than I thought would be," Sakura explained. "I've brought you all something!" she showed them a wicker basket she was holding.

They regarded it curiously.

"What is it? What is it?"" Naruto questioned, then his eyes brightened with a new idea. "Did you bring me some ramen, Sakura-chan?"

She laughed. "No, it's not ramen! It's something much, much better!" she proclaimed proudly, then theatrically lifted the white cloth, uncovering the green and black, apricot-sized balls. "The new and improved energy pills! One will restore your depleted chakra to the maximum in no time and they have all the vitamins and minerals the body needs to regenerate completely!"

Naruto and Sai blanched, staring at her creation in abject horror, while Sasuke raised an eyebrow at them, not understanding why they were so frightened.

"Ehehe, thanks Sakura-chan, but I'm alright! I don't need to eat now, my chakra's as high as always!" Naruto chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"I-I'm fine too," Sai assured her weakly.

Sakura pouted. "But you two absolutely have to try them out! You need to tell me how they compare with the last batch I had made back then," she insisted. "I even adjusted the recipe to make the taste better!"

She took out one ball and held it out to Naruto. He looked at it warily, his eyes widened comically as if he thought it was about to bite him.

"S-Sakura-chan, I really don't want to..." he pleaded.

"Naruto," she said in a saccharine tone that put them all on guard, "do you want me to stuff this ball down your throat?"

The blond whimpered pathetically, shaking in fear. "That won't be necessary, Sakura-chan..."

"Sakura," Sasuke spoke up suddenly, taking her attention away from terrified Naruto. "Can I have one?"

"Sure!" Sakura chirped, happy that he wanted to try her pill out. She handed him the one she was already holding. "Here you go, Sasuke-kun."

The Uchiha nodded in thanks and took the ball from her. Behind Sakura's back, Naruto was crossing his arms and mouthing to him not to eat it, but he ignored the overdramatic idiot. It couldn't have been that bad.

Naruto and Sai observed in suspense as their poor, unsuspecting teammate took a bite of Sakura's sickening pill of doom. They held their breath, expecting that any moment now Sasuke would start coughing and hacking, utterly disgusted by the gross taste of the medicine.

Sasuke calmly chewed and swallowed without changing his expression.

Sakura looked at him expectantly. "How is it?"

"It's good," he replied shortly and ate the rest of the ball.

She beamed at him, pleased that he liked it, then turned to Naruto and Sai, who gaped in astonishment and awe at this unfathomable feat Sasuke had flawlessly performed. "You see? I told you it's the new and improved version! Try it now!" she urged them.

In the end, Naruto and Sai ate one pill each and though they complained about the extremely bitter taste that made their tongues go numb, they didn't get sick this time around. Sakura called her experiment a success and told them all to report to her if they felt any different later. She headed back to the village, leaving them the full basket of her homemade goods.

Naruto and Sai categorically rejected taking any of the balls back home, so the entirety of them landed in Sasuke's possession. The Uchiha didn't understand their childish behaviour. The wicker basket was left on his kitchen table.

The next day, when Sasuke came back from a mission too wiped out to bother with grocery shopping and he found his fridge painfully empty, he just took two Sakura's pills and ate them. They replenished his energy just as she had told and didn't seem to have any adverse effects.

When he didn't feel like making a bento and just took a few of these balls for lunch, even though he didn't have in plans any strenuous activity that day, he didn't think anything about it. After all, the energy pills were said to be a source of vitamins and minerals, so he figured they could be eaten instead of a normal meal...

Two weeks later, during a sparring session with Naruto, Sasuke formed a gigantic fire technique and unleashed it on the blond, who barely dodged, avoiding the instant inflammation.

"Hey, teme, what was that for?!" Naruto called out, surprised by the ferociousness of the attack.

Sasuke grunted and charged a Chidori. He had been irritable for the last few days and just needed to take it out on someone. Naruto was the best choice since someone else than him could have been seriously injured by the extremely dangerous techniques of the Uchiha.

However, the spar didn't bring Sasuke peace and for some reason he felt more frustrated. He needed something desperately, but he didn't know what it could be...

"Hello, Sasuke-kun, Naruto! How are you?" Sakura greeted them, coming out from the wooded area, a wicker basket in her grasp.

"Sakura-chan, you're here!" Naruto bounded to her.

When his teammates made small talk, something about Sai's absence, Sasuke's eyes were transfixed on Sakura's basket. Saliva filled his mouth and he swallowed thickly. Four days ago the similar basket in his kitchen became empty...

"I brought you guys more of my energy pills!" Sakura announced, breaking his focus.

Naruto made a face and she bopped him on the head. Sasuke held out his hand and received one ball. Uncharacteristically for him, as he was usually very well-mannered when eating, Sasuke devoured the pill in seconds and held out his hand for more.

"Sasuke-kun, you shouldn't eat more than one after a training session," Sakura told him, surprised by his appetite, but he didn't listen. Impatient at not getting his desired treat, he roughly yanked the basket out of her grasp and took out the fistful of the pills which he ate right away.

Sasuke closed his eyes, moaning at the ecstatic rush of energy running through him. He needed more...

Both Sakura and Naruto gaped at the Uchiha as he gorged on the green and black pills. Only when he emptied around half of the basket's contents, he stopped eating. Wiping the crumbs off his mouth, Sasuke gave them a half-lidded, stoned look and a tiny, blissful smile. Everything seemed so colourful around him and he felt as if he was floating in the air... It was so nice...

His heavy eyelids fluttered shut and his body pitched forward in a dead faint.

* * *

Sasuke woke up sluggishly in a hospital room. Disoriented and weakened, he glanced around in confusion. He was connected to IV drip and the clock on the wall told him it was ten am. Did he spend the night? He didn't remember how he got there at all.

A door opened and Sakura clad in a white doctor coat walked in, a clipboard in hand.

"Sakura," he croaked out through his parched throat.

"Oh, you're awake, Sasuke-kun," she noticed dryly and poured him a glass of water to drink.

He sipped slowly, his questioning eyes never leaving her form. From the hard look she was giving him, he surmised she was angry at him for some reason, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

"What happened? I don't remember anything," Sasuke finally asked.

"You are an idiot, that's what happened," she stated as a matter of fact. He looked offended at that accusation. The only idiot on their team was Naruto, not him!

Sakura sighed and elaborated. "Somehow, you became addicted to my energy pills. Yesterday, you ate half of a basket of them and overdosed. I had to give you a gastric lavage and now you're going on a detox."

"I'm not addicted," Sasuke objected, glaring.

"Yes, you are! Didn't I tell you all clearly that the energy pills are meant to be taken to restore your chakra?! What an idiot can't understand such simple instructions?! It's not a candy, it's a very strong medicine! You could have died, Sasuke-kun, if no one was around when you collapsed!" Sakura ranted at him, worry deeply etched in her features even as she scolded him angrily. "You'll stay a week for observation," she finally told him in a calmer tone and after checking his IV, walked out.

Sasuke's, unnecessary in his opinion, stay in the hospital was a very tedious experience. He had a few visits from his teammates and other friends, but they did nothing to alleviate the boredom. The only point of the day he was looking forward to was when Sakura would check up on him and bring him a home-cooked meal. It seemed that she could not only make addicting medicine, but also was a skilled chef.

"You don't have to cook for me everyday, Sakura," Sasuke pointed out the sixth day. "Why do you do it?"

She reddened a little. "Ahh... I just want to do it for you... It's my fault, after all, that you have to stay in the hospital. If I didn't make these energy pills..." she trailed off. "So I'm cooking for you to say sorry."

"It's not your fault," Sasuke grabbed her hand and gave her an intense look. He couldn't stand her feeling guilty for something he brought on himself. "The only one who should be sorry is me."

Sakura nodded, blushing at the prolonged contact between them.

"So, do you want me to take it away?" she asked pointing at the gyoza she has brought him for dinner, when he reluctantly released her hand from his grasp.

Sasuke clutched his plate. "I'd prefer if you'd let me eat it first."

Sakura chuckled, not bothering to hide the glint of happiness at the fact that Sasuke liked her cooking so much. It made her heart soar!

When Sasuke polished off his dinner, she gathered the empty dishes to wash them later at home.

"What would you like for tomorrow?" she asked, preparing to leave.

"It doesn't matter. Whatever you'll make, I'll eat it," he replied seriously.

Sakura's heart thumped furiously as she flushed with pleasure at the compliment. "A-Alright," she nodded and quickly left, trying to slow down her racing heartbeat. She was determined to make Sasuke the best meal and win his love!

Sasuke relaxed, laying back on his pillow and closed his eyes. He noted that he liked making Sakura blush like that. He would definitely try to do it again when she would come back...


	11. Birds in the Sky

**Title:** Birds in the Sky

**Summary: **The worst case scenario after war. Will Sakura cope?  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Classified  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Death in all of its variety. Blood. Alcohol drinking. Proceed with caution.

**Comments: **Five pages. I should seriously stop myself from writing so much in one go...

* * *

The Fourth Shinobi War ultimately ended in a victory of the Shinobi Alliance, though it was occupied with great losses. Despite the hospitals working overtime and medic-nins practically not sleeping anymore, doing everything in their considerable power to prevent the deaths of loyal Alliance soldiers, the overall death count took slightly more than a half of entire workforce of the five hidden villages. It was a time of rejoice as the world was saved from the nefarious scheme of Uchiha Madara, which would have put everything and everyone under his infinite control, but it was also a time of great mourning for all those who died for the sake of peace.

For Haruno Sakura, it was also a time of a new hope. Her former teammate and international criminal, Uchiha Sasuke, turned sides during the final battle and helped in bringing on the defeat of Madara, choosing to protect Konoha and his old comrades. Sakura had never been more happy than at that moment. She was sure nothing would now stop Sasuke from returning home. Team Seven would be reinstated and all her dreams and hopes would be thus realized.

However, the fate dealt cruel cards to her once again. Just after the battle, instead of being rightfully lauded as a hero, Sasuke was immediately taken into custody by Morino Ibiki and his I&T squad. Sakura, swamped by the sheer amount of wounded she had to attend, could barely spare a thought to Sasuke's imprisonment. She was just glad that he was in Konoha's hands and not, for example, Raikage's. Believing he wouldn't be held for long, she focused completely on her work.

But then, the initial turmoil slowly receded, the shinobi were recalled back into their countries' borders for missions and just to return order, as the criminals had taken the opportunity the war had provided to expand their activity, growing bolder with the bulk of the able-bodied shinobi away on the battlefronts. Situation when it came to the national security of the Elemental Countries was becoming too perilous – the shinobi forces, already weakened, simply couldn't afford to dally any longer. Even if all of the available ninjas were posted in their respective lands, they would have been stretched very thin.

Sakura's return to Konoha was accompanied by such an atmosphere of urgency, but the kunoichi didn't doubt that when she entered her beloved village's walls, Sasuke would be waiting for her as the newly reinstated ninja and they could go together to a team meeting with Naruto, Kakashi and Sai. It came as a shock when she reported in to Tsunade-sama's office and learned the truth about Sasuke's status. Sakura argued against it till she turned blue in the face, she raged, screamed and in the end resorted to begging, but the decision of the Hokage and the Council of Elders in agreement with the leaders of the Shinobi Alliance was final and undisputed. As a loyal kunoichi, Sakura had to submit and accept it, no matter how much her feelings were opposing it.

Uchiha Sasuke was to be executed for his crimes.

Understanding that she couldn't prevent this decision from coming to life, Sakura asked to see him before the execution and her request was denied, "because of security measures". She wasn't allowed to watch it – the execution was attended only by the Hokage, the Elders, the executioner and, of course, the convict.

The night before Sasuke's death Sakura for the first time in her life got herself drunk, thinking that the alcohol could dull the pain of her heart being ripped into tiny shreds. It only made her feel even worse and she still cried herself to sleep.

In the late morning she went to Sasuke's brief funeral at the Uchiha cemetery. There was no body as it had been cremated immediately after the execution had been carried out, so she couldn't even see his face one last time. A few words about his deeds were said and without much ado Sasuke's gravestone joined his mother's and father's. As a last desperate attempt to do _something _Sakura tried to persuade Tsunade and the Elders to add Sasuke's name on the Memorial Stone in remembrance of his part in defeating Madara, but they didn't agree to even that.

Swallowed by sorrow, pain and grief, Sakura grew distant from her team, burying herself in her work. She was seen more at Sasuke's grave, bringing him flowers and offerings regularly, than at social outings with her living friends.

Uchiha Sasuke was dead. And her heart was dead with him.

* * *

A few months later, Sakura was standing before Hokage's desk. Tsunade assessed her apprentice from above the steepled fingers she put in front of herself on top of her desk. Sakura was clad in standard chunin uniform – a green flak vest and the black shinobi garb. There was no trace of red on her, even the material of her headband was changed to black. Her spine was perfectly straight, her hands clasped behind her back in a military fashion. Sakura's face was a stone mask, her once vibrant green eyes subdued and expressing absolutely nothing.

Tsunade's heart constricted as she recognized just how broken the kunoichi before her was. She remembered a similar time in her life when she had gone through exactly the same thing Sakura did – losing the love of her life. However, Tsunade at least had the comfort of knowing that Dan's death was an honourable sacrifice for the well-being of the village he had loved so much and his name was carved on the Memorial Stone as a hero's.

The Hokage regarded her apprentice worriedly. Her own grief made her hate Konoha and leave it for twenty years to waste her life away on drinking and gambling, which had never really helped close the wound on her soul. What the same feeling could drive Sakura to?

"Hokage-sama," the kunoichi spoke formally and the guilt and regret ate away at Tsunade. No more was she "Tsunade-sama" or just "shishou" to her apprentice. With sentencing the Uchiha to death, she lost the close bond with her student. "I would like to request a week off-duty."

"Is there any particular reason?" Tsunade asked. There were quite a lot of missions that could use an experienced medic-nin, not to mention the hospital was still understaffed.

"I need to recuperate. It can be a shorter time, if a week is too long," Sakura explained in a monotone voice. Tsunade hated that mechanical, emotionless way of speaking her apprentice had adopted.

"Alright, I can grant you a week out of the roster. You will be with your friends? Naruto complained that you don't show up to the team meetings."

Sakura inhaled sharply, then closed her eyes for a brief second. When she opened them, they were once again cold. "Yes, I'll be with my friends," she said without inflection.

Tsunade gave her a searching look. It could be a first step towards Sakura's recovery, but for some reason the Slug Sannin felt uneasy. When her student exited the office, she signaled her ANBU guard to come forward.

A man in a bird mask appeared kneeling before her desk in a flash. Although he's been inducted into Hokage's personal service just a few months ago, he was already one of her most trusted and dependable agents.

"Tori, you will shadow Haruno Sakura for the duration of her vacation. It's an A-rank mission," Tsunade ordered. "Under no circumstances you are allowed to let her see you. She must remain unaware of your presence."

Tsunade didn't want the rift between herself and Sakura to deepen, which would undoubtedly happen if her apprentice caught a wind of an ANBU on her tail.

The agent bowed his head. "As you wish, Hokage-sama."

* * *

The agent followed Sakura skillfully as she made her way home. After the war and Sasuke's execution she'd had a big falling out with her parents, who didn't approve of her "mourning of the traitor" and binge drinking. Unable to stand their good intentions anymore, at first she had stayed for a bit in her cramped office in the hospital until she had started renting her own small one-bedroom apartment.

Looking through the windows, the ANBU surveyed the drab interior of Sakura's place. It was simply furnished, without any personal touches or affects. The only thing that stood out in the room was the small home altar. A few pictures of Uchiha Sasuke were placed within it, most from the genin days, but there was also one clearly cut out from the Bingo Book that had been updated before the war.

The agent observed as immediately upon her arrival, Sakura went to the shrine and knelt, her hands clasped together. She burned incense and appeared to be talking to her dead teammate, but the ANBU couldn't read her lips because she was turned away from the window, only half of her left profile visible to him.

Only after her evidently daily ritual was completed, she rose from the kneeling position and proceeded to unpack her groceries, which she had bought at the market earlier. The agent frowned noticing the amount of sake bottles she acquired.

Sakura made herself a meager dinner consisting of tamagoyaki. She ate it halfheartedly, taking often sips from the first bottle of the evening. When her friend, Ino, visited and tried to drag her out to the bar, Sakura refused politely.

Later, she curled on her bed, staring into distance in a deep thought and drinking leisurely. Then she took out yet another picture of young Sasuke from her pocket and traced his boyish features tenderly, a small sad smile on her face. Finally, she lied down tiredly and cried herself to sleep, clutching the photo to her chest.

The next few days Sakura spent in her apartment following the same depressing routine and only leaving for an early morning run, to visit Sasuke's grave and to do her shopping when she ran out of food and other necessities. The ANBU trailed her inconspicuously, sending out a Kage Bunshin with a daily report to the Hokage when Sakura fell asleep.

* * *

Sakura knelt before Sasuke's grave. She was dressed in a white, silk kimono decorated with delicate cherry blossom print. Her hair was twisted into a bun and held up with ornamental chopsticks. A tiny, peaceful smile graced her features as she gazed lovingly at the name carved into the tombstone.

She was finally alone with Sasuke-kun, having gotten rid of the pesky ANBU that had been following her around. He must have really taken her for an incapable mess of a kunoichi if he thought she wouldn't notice his presence. Since this was something she wanted to do without interference, she had gone to the bathroom and had made a Kage Bunshin to act as her double. The ANBU had been fooled and had tailed it, leaving her alone to come to Sasuke's resting place in secret.

Sakura burned the incense and poured an offering of sake in a flat dish, setting it on the gravestone.

"Sasuke-kun," she said conversationally, "it's the last time I'll be talking to you like that. Aren't you glad? I am. These months without you were the worst. I..." she choked on a sob, "... I think I understand now what you went through when your family was killed. How lonely you were... Do you remember that I told you that night you decided to leave that I would feel lonely without you? It wasn't entirely true, but I didn't know it then. It was so hard for me, when you were away, but at least I knew you were alive. And now..."

The tears spilled from green eyes and landed on the tombstone. She wiped her eyes, trying to find the words that could describe the chasm that had opened in her soul and the encompassing grief and anguish that threatened to crush her with every moment of living in the world in which Sasuke didn't exist.

"It's hell," Sakura whispered brokenly.

Coming to a decision she has been meditating on for the past few days, she deftly reached to her obi and took out a kunai hidden in its folds. She bared her forearms and sliced, making deep, clean incisions and cutting major veins purposefully. The blood ran in rivulets down her white skin and she let it to spill on Sasuke's gravestone as her life's offering.

Sakura observed the stream of red, smiling softly. She felt her clone dispel but she didn't pay its memories much attention. She was happy because soon she would see Sasuke-kun again...

The blood was overflowing from the tombstone on the ground and her vision was getting blurry. She thought she heard Sasuke calling her name from beyond the veil.

"Sasuke-kun..."

Sakura was smiling.

* * *

Tsunade was frothing at the mouth.

"I told you to keep an eye on her!" she bellowed angrily at the ANBU standing in front of her as she paced. "How could you not do something so simple?! You fool! Imbecile! Brainless idiot!"

The agent bowed his head in subservience as she raged at him. He felt he deserved all the insults hurled at him by the Hokage and much, much more.

A quiet, pained moan interrupted Tsunade's tirade. The attention of the room's occupants was turned to the stirring form laid out on Hokage's desk.

Sakura opened her eyes. If this was afterlife, it looked a lot like her shishou's office.

"Sakura? Do you hear me?" her shishou leaned over her.

So, she wasn't dead. It was... disappointing.

"Hokage... sama?"

Tsunade gathered Sakura in her arms and hugged tightly. "Why did you do it, Sakura? Why did you try to kill yourself?" she asked, her eyes growing wet. "It isn't what I taught you. Don't you dare do it again," she tried to sound commanding through the tears.

Sakura didn't answer, her expression becoming distant and cold again.

"Stop! Stop ignoring me!" Tsunade snapped, her relief being replaced by anger at Sakura's unresponsiveness. "Tell me what's wrong and I'll do anything to make it better!" she pleaded in the end.

Sakura slid her indifferent gaze onto her shishou.

"Can you bring back the dead? Then bring back Sasuke-kun," she knowingly demanded the impossible. "Bring him back and I won't try to kill myself but if you can't, just let me die! Let me die and be with him!"

Sakura panted harshly from her outburst, the first one in months. Even when she had moved out from her parents', she hadn't really screamed at them. She hang down her head, awaiting the rebuke from Tsunade.

"Hokage-sama..." the bird-masked ANBU said hesitantly.

"Be silent," Tsunade ordered him and paced in thought. Finally, coming to a resolution, she stood before Sakura once again.

"Sakura," she waited for her apprentice to raise her head and look at her, then continued, "I'm about to tell you something that under any circumstances can't get out beyond these four walls. It's a triple-S village secret. No one but me and the Elders knows. If I find out you told someone, you will be executed. Do you understand?"

The kunoichi nodded, regarding her curiously.

"Alright," Tsunade sighed, praying that she wouldn't have a reason to regret it and gestured to the ANBU to come over to them. "Tori, take off your mask."

The agent slipped the hood of his cloak off his head and slid the mask up, revealing familiar thin lips, straight nose and intense, black eyes which bored into Sakura's shocked green ones.

"Sasuke-kun...?" she whispered out, not daring to believe, to hope that the apparition of her beloved was real.

"Sakura," his voice, not distorted by the mask, rang clear in her ears. "I'm alive."

To prove his words, he laid his hands on her shoulders. She shuddered at the warmth he exuded, allowing it to finally sink in that he was really there. With a sudden laugh, she embraced him, burrowing her head in his chest. She was mumbling gibberish, sobbing and laughing as she held him, the dam on her emotions broken.

After a few minutes, when Sakura calmed a little and was capable of coherent speech again, she turned to Tsunade, looking for an explanation.

"Shishou, but what about the execution?"

"It was a sham to fool the Raikage and the other leaders. We need all the well-trained shinobi and the Uchiha was willing to work for us again, why would we do something so stupid as killing him?" Tsunade snorted.

"If you wanted to fool the Raikage, why did you keep it from me?" Sakura asked, annoyance and hurt seeping into her voice. "Do Naruto and Kakashi-sensei know?"

"I didn't keep it just from you, I kept it from everyone, even Shizune," Tsunade told her and reached into her desk's secret compartment for some sake. "How could I have known that you'd decide to kill yourself?"

Sakura blushed in embarrassment and ducked her head into Sasuke's chest again. He didn't seem to mind it as all the while he was returning her embrace gently.

"Both Naruto and Kakashi know," Sasuke announced.

"Did you tell them?" Tsunade asked with a dangerous edge in her voice.

"Of course not. Naruto has the Sage mode, he felt my life force and found me himself. And Kakashi's back in ANBU, I'm sure with that sense of smell he or his little dog recognized me by now," Sasuke explained.

Tsunade nodded thoughtfully and poured herself a drink. "I'll have to talk with them both too."

"Shishou, what happens now?" Sakura asked her bashfully, still latched desperately on the Uchiha, as if she was afraid he'd disappear once again if she stopped touching him even for a second.

Tsunade gave her an amused look and rummaged through her desk. "Now, since you don't look like you'll let him go anytime soon, I need to find the damn brush and ink, so I can induct you into ANBU..."

* * *

_AN: I'm wiped out and there's probably a ton of mistakes, but it's finished. Personally, as funny as I find the fics with Sasuke on probation and doing D-ranks, it seems really impractical to not use ninja like him to do high rank missions. It's more logical to risk the life of a past traitor than a loyal ninja, right?_

_The title idea I got from a song "Feeling Good" by Muse. I could have given Sasuke codename Taka, but it would've been too obvious, eh?_

_So please review, tell me what do you think about this installment. Are there any blatant mistakes? How did you like it overall? Were you surprised about Sasuke being the ANBU?_


	12. Prelude to a Dream

**Title:** Prelude to a Dream

**Summary: **The day Naruto achieves his dream, Sakura and Sasuke share a conversation.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Chasing a Dream  
**Rating:** K  
**Warning(s): **None.  
**Comments: **Sorry, it's a bit unoriginal, but I tried.

* * *

All of Konoha was in a festive mood. People milled the streets dressed in their finest clothes, children ran around laughing and playing, vendors from various booths with snacks, gadgets and games welcomed their customers with warm smiles. It was a most special day for Konoha and the world – the day of Naruto's inauguration as the Sixth Hokage.

Yes, at twenty years of age, Naruto accomplished his life's dream and became the leader and protector of his beloved village. These couple short years after war it was no secret that he was Tsunade's assigned successor as the Slug Sannin hadn't wasted time, immediately promoting Naruto to jounin rank on the battlefield just after the victory over Madara had been confirmed. With his friends' and mentors' support the blond has been thoroughly prepared to take on the mantle of the Fire Shadow, proudly following in his father's footsteps.

At the Hokage Tower, the celebration was at full swing. With all the foreign diplomats and other leaders of the Shinobi Alliance present, it probably would have been a stuffy and uncomfortable event, but Naruto's straightforward, friendly personality made everyone more lively, causing even the grumpy Raikage to open up and enjoy the festivities.

Naruto's old teammates, Sakura and Sasuke, were also in attendance, bearing witness to their best friend's day of glory and sharing in his happiness. Sakura was now a head of the hospital and Sasuke was still on his probationary period, reintegrating into the the village life, however Naruto has heavily hinted that he would want Sasuke as his right hand man. Probably there would be an ANBU commission waiting on his desk for Sasuke's signature the very next day.

Sakura, overwhelmed with the celebration and a little tired, walked out of the giant hall and climbed the stairs to the top of Hokage Tower, seeking reprieve from the noise. She stepped onto the empty roof of the building and breathed in the fresh air. Leaning on the balcony rail, she looked over the rebuilt Konoha, drinking in the sounds of joy and peace.

When Sasuke joined her, taking a spot at her side a few seconds later, she wasn't surprised. He didn't like crowds and loud places as much as earlier when they had been children. And after these few years he's been back, she's learned that she was actually one of a small group of people whose presence he could tolerate for more than a few minutes. Sometimes he even sought her company by himself and she liked to think they put behind themselves the painful past and became good friends.

"It's amazing," she began talking softly. "Naruto accomplished his dream and soon his head will be carved onto the Hokage Mountain. It's hard to imagine..."

Sasuke grunted in agreement. "Yeah, I can't imagine I would be able to see dobe's face from every point in the village," he quipped and Sakura giggled.

"Don't be mean, Sasuke-kun," she gently chided, though the smile didn't leave her face. "Naruto deserves the recognition. He's worked hard to get to that point since we all had become genin. Did you see Kaka-sensei? He was literally bursting with pride."

That was true, Sasuke recalled seeing Kakashi. Their old sensei was radiating pride and happiness for his student's great achievement and even issued a challenge to Gai, who was bemoaning another victory on his rival's side while tearfully praising Naruto's hardworking nature and other Hokage-worthy qualities.

"Naruto did something truly amazing. I'm proud I was at his side supporting him, even if it helped only a little..." Sakura said fondly. "Do you remember our first day as a team? We were to tell each other our dreams..."

Sasuke nodded, not sure where she was going with this, but listening patiently.

"You said you don't dream and that you had an ambition. Now, you're revenge is completed," Sakura turned to look him in the eyes. "Tell me, Sasuke-kun, do you have a dream now?"

Her seriousness and some kind of anxiety in her gaze threw him off balance. He was silent for a moment, collecting his thoughts.

"Many things changed since that time, but I still don't dream." He hesitated. "What about you, Sakura?"

Sakura looked away, focusing her sight on the celebration below. Sasuke regarded her curiously, trying to understand what was going in her mind.

"You're right," she said after a moment and he had to strain his ears for how quiet her voice was. "Many things changed... My dreams changed, too..."

That admission stung him as some sort of nervous, fluctuating emotion filled him. He needed to know what she meant, otherwise he wouldn't find peace again. Sasuke took her by her shoulders and gently turned her to face him. He leaned down to her, as she was a head shorter than him, to stare her directly into the eye.

"Did your feelings change?" he asked thickly.

His heavy, intense gaze, focused solely on her, searching for the answer she wasn't willing to divulge, made her heartbeat speed up. She tried to turn her face away, but his hand shot up to gently hold her chin and keep her head in place.

"Did your feelings change, Sakura?" he repeated the question insistently.

"And what if they did? What does it matter, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"Then I'd change them back."

Her eyes widened in surprise and disbelief at that bold answer. But Sasuke's expression was dead serious.

"Sasuke-kun, why..."

However, Sasuke had enough of talking. He was fed up with sneaked glances, untold truths and unresolved feelings. He was simply tired of dancing around each other.

So he tilted her head and captured her lips in a chaste kiss, which still made a shudder of pleasure run through his body reaching to the very core. Sakura gasped but didn't struggle, accepting his inexperienced lips and finally reciprocating timidly with her own.

They pulled apart, their breaths mingling as they absorbed what has just happened. Sakura looked like she wanted to say something, but Sasuke didn't allow that, once again claiming her mouth in a kiss. This time he was more confident and when he moved to deepen their connection she let him do it willingly, her hands tangling in his hair and pulling him closer as his arms snaked around her waist to hold her tightly.

Sasuke poured all his feelings into the kiss, all his hidden hopes, doubts and wishes, baring his heart and soul to the woman he intended to spend his life with. And when she responded with an equal passion, revealing her innermost desires to him, he knew it wasn't just a dream.

It was an ambition. The ambition he was going to make a reality very soon.

* * *

_AN: Thank you to my dear reviewers for warm words about the previous oneshot! I hope this new one makes up for all the angst and possible discomfort I've brought you yesterday. Thank you for reading and feel free to share any thoughts, opinions or just point out the mistakes._


	13. Hokage for a Week

**Title:** Hokage for a Week

**Summary: **Sasuke becomes the Hokage, just not in the way you'd think.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Fish Out of Water  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Some language. Ecchi moment.  
**Comments: **When I was thinking what could possibly make Sasuke uncomfortable, this came to my mind... I'm bad.

* * *

That morning, Sasuke was doing his ANBU paperwork as usual, drinking his daily cup of black, non-sugared coffee and thinking what he would get for dinner, when he felt a familiar chakra approaching and stifled a sigh. The Hokage was coming.

Naruto barging into his right hand man's office for this or that reason, or more often than not just to pester him and avoid doing the paperwork, was a pretty common occurrence these days. However, Naruto politely knocking and waiting for permission to enter, then presenting his best friend with a sophisticated bento containing all of Sasuke's favourite tomato dishes was as common as unicorn sightings.

"What do you want, dobe?" Sasuke asked suspiciously, raising his eyes from the delicious-looking offering.

Naruto pouted. "How could you think I have some ulterior motive? Maybe I just felt like getting something nice for my best buddy."

Sasuke gave him a blank look, not falling for the poor acting. The blond sighed and dropped the charade.

"Alright, teme. I need you to do me a favour. It's really, really important and only you can do it."

Sasuke motioned him to continue, intrigued. What could Naruto possibly need from him that no one else was capable of doing?

"Sasuke, I need you to become Hokage," the blond blurted out.

Half a second later, Naruto barely ducked under the kunai charged with lightning chakra. "Hey, teme, do you want to kill me?!"

"I don't know what you did with the real dobe, but I'm going to find out," Sasuke reached for a kunai, preparing to attack again.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Naruto threw his arms up in a placating gesture, then quickly pulled on his Kyuubi cloak. "See? It's me!"

Sasuke studied him with his Sharingan on, then nodded, slowly putting his kunai back into the pouch. Naruto sighed in relief and lowered his chakra, going back to normal.

"So, why the hell would you want me to become Hokage?" Sasuke demanded to know, his arms crossed in front of his chest and an irritated scowl on his face.

Naruto grinned and showed him a photo of a picturesque beach. "I'm going on vacation!"

Sasuke gave him a dumbfounded look. "Dobe, you're the Hokage, you can't just go on vacation."

"And that's where you come in, teme..."

Sasuke was right – a year after being appointed the Hokage, Naruto had to stay in the village, only leaving it in case of emergency or for the most important matters pertaining to the Konoha's interests. However, Naruto wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't find a way around that restrictions. The plan was fairly straightforward – Sasuke would take Naruto's place under a henge, while Naruto would transform into his best friend and leave a village for a fake mission. That way no one will ever know that their Hokage, instead of staying on his post, was frolicking on a beach and sunbathing with his girlfriend, Hyuuga Hinata. But the success of this scheme depended on Sasuke...

"I'm not doing it," the Uchiha refused instantly.

"Aw, come on, teme!" Naruto whined. "I thought you said that you wanted to become the Hokage?"

"That was different," Sasuke gritted out, remembering with an inward wince how arrogant he had been back then. "Why can't you just get Konohamaru to henge into you? I'm sure no one would realize a difference."

"Are you crazy? He would take advantage of this situation and it would be all on my head when I come back. Besides, you're the only person who has the knowledge and skills to act as the Hokage and impersonate me believably."

Sasuke was fully aware Naruto was kissing his ass, but it sure felt nice to hear it. However, he didn't budge. "No," he declined again.

Naruto regarded him thoughtfully, then smiled sadly, though there was a shadow of deviousness in his sorrowful, disappointed expression that put Sasuke on guard.

"I understand, Sasuke," Naruto nodded as if coming to terms with some grave information. "The Sharingan just isn't what it used to be. It can't copy my genius or the dignity of Hokage's position. Being me would just be too much to you. How could I even ask my best friend to share this burden, a burden so great, it would no doubt be impossible for him to shoulder it? Forgive me, Sasuke, I know I shouldn't have done it so carelessly."

Oh hell no. He didn't just go there.

Sasuke's brow twitched as his pride was critically wounded. He damn well knew what Naruto was doing and, curse him, it was working.

"Being an ANBU captain and my right hand man is a great responsibility, I know. It certainly can't prepare you for stepping into my shoes. Of course, you're still one hundred years too early to even think about approaching my level of greatness. You're just not as awesome as me, so how can you be the Hokage? I'm really sorry I asked you to do it, what was I thinking?"

That. Was. It.

"Alright, I'll do it," Sasuke snapped.

Naruto grinned, in a flash reverting back to his cheerful disposition. "Thanks, I knew you'd come around!" he said cheekily.

"Shut up, dobe," the Uchiha growled, already regretting his agreement. However, there was no backing off now.

The idiot just smirked smugly.

* * *

The plan was put into action right away. The scroll with the fake mission parameters was laying prepared on Naruto's desk, along with his apartment keys and spare orange and black jumpsuit he usually wore. To make the charade more real, Sasuke had to change into Naruto's clothes and give his own black outfit to the dobe. With a henge on and the jumpsuit providing the right scent, Sasuke became a perfect replica of his best friend.

Somehow, he already felt like quite a few of his brain cells died.

"Ok, now you just need to summon Hinata and her team and send me with them on the mission," Naruto told him, his foxy smile looking disturbing on Sasuke's face of the henge.

"I thought that you'd go alone with the Hyuuga," the real Sasuke said, ticked off at Naruto making strange faces while looking like him.

"Well, if she went out without Shino and Kiba, her father would get suspicious. Also, she doesn't know about the vacation, it's going to be a surprise, so don't screw up!" Naruto warned him.

Sasuke scowled at the admonishment.

The plan went without the hitch. Hinata and her teammates didn't see through the ploy, though they were a bit surprised about Sasuke going with them. The real one also acted well enough to fool them into thinking that he was Naruto. He had to go through a very disturbing goodbye with the Hyuuga, but thankfully he managed to avoid kissing her anywhere inappropriate and just gave her a short peck on the cheek, which still made her turn bright red and swoon. The real Naruto glared at him for that, but he just waved them all off.

Finally, Sasuke was left alone in the Hokage's office. His gaze slid around his surroundings disinterestedly and settled on the pile of paperwork on the desk. Might as well...

Half an hour later, he was pretty satisfied with himself when he filled in the last document. It wasn't all that hard, he didn't see why the dobe always complained about it.

That is, he didn't see until Izumo and Kotetsu entered with four fresh stacks and set them on the desk. "Have fun, Hokage-sama," Kotetsu chirped with a small laugh and Sasuke promised himself to kick the chunin around on a training field when Naruto will get back.

He furiously tackled the mountain of paperwork, cursing in his mind. How did the dobe deal with so much of it? Was it some kind of a paperwork-disappearing trick only Hokages were privy to?

No, he needed to calm down and center himself. The answer couldn't be too hard to find, after all it was just the dobe...

Sasuke opened his eyes in sudden realization and almost slapped himself at how obvious it was. Kage Bunshin, of course... He quickly made the signs for one and got back to work. It was going a little faster, but he could easily imagine Naruto making ten of those and just eating ramen as he supervised them working. Sasuke's palm clenched, almost breaking the pen in his grasp.

The sun was high in the sky and Sasuke's hand was about to fall off from writing when another unpleasantness opened the door and waltzed into the Hokage's office. The unpleasantness was double and wore the old, unassuming faces of the village elders. Sasuke hid his scowl and concentrated on his Naruto persona.

"Naruto, we cannot allow you to do that!" Utatane Koharu called out in her senile, grating voice, Homura nodding at her side.

Sasuke's mind went through the list of possible reactions with lightning speed. What would the dobe say?

"It's Hokage-sama to you, dattebayo!" he replied, inwardly wincing at using Naruto's catchphrase. His brain cells were withering...

"That's not the issue, _Hokage-sama_," the old woman said bitingly. "You can't just sign that treaty with Iwa, it's a suicide for our country!"

Now, that really didn't sound like something that Sasuke should decide by himself. He heard about Naruto's talks with Tsuchikage, but he didn't know enough about it all to safely discuss it with the elders. So, it was a time for a diversion tactic.

"Sorry, grandma Koharu, but I'm in a bit of a hurry," he said bluntly, rising from his seat.

"And what is so important that the village affairs have to wait?" she asked scathingly.

What would the dobe say? What would the dobe say?

"Aghh, I'm just so hungry! I need to eat my ramen or I'll die! Bye, dattebayo!" Sasuke yelled out, feeling like an idiot (that he was pretending to be) and jumped out of the window.

"Get back here, Naruto!" Koharu screamed after him, but he was already making a beeline for Naruto's usual haunt – Ichiraku Ramen, the establishment he knew everything about, from being dragged there by the blond almost everyday.

Sasuke sat down at the counter with a sigh. He forgot to take that delicious bento Naruto has given him, otherwise he wouldn't have come here. Now it was too late to go back for it and he had to satisfy himself with the ramen.

"Miso ramen, please," he ordered, unable to muster much enthusiasm for his friend's favourite dish.

"Right away, Hokage-sama!" the ramen chef replied cheerfully and without preamble set five bowls before him. Sasuke eyed them nonplussed, then remembered how much of the stuff Naruto ate. Oh god, and now he _was_ Naruto... Sasuke felt like he was going to be sick.

He broke the disposable chopsticks apart and said woodenly, "Itadakimasu."

* * *

Sasuke managed to choke down three bowls of the vile, salty substance before he quickly excused himself to the nearby alleyway and threw most of it up into an open dumpster. He was wiping his mouth and swearing off all ramen indefinitely when someone decided to bother him, which wasn't that big of a surprise this day.

"Hey, boss! What's up?" Konohamaru greeted him. "... wow, you don't look so great," he noticed.

_No shit_, Sasuke thought irritably.

Then a light bulb lit up above the young chunin's head. "I know what'll make you feel better! Let's go to the hot springs!"

Sasuke had to admit that the dobe's disciple wasn't all that stupid. A hot, relaxing bath sounded like a good idea after all that happened that day. Being there in Naruto's skin wasn't a problem as he's seen his friend naked enough times when they went with the other guys to the public bath. His henge was accurate.

Slipping into the warm water, Sasuke leaned back and closed his eyes meditatively. He was sure that even Konohamaru's company wouldn't spoil this moment of peace and quiet.

"Boss, you want to take a look or not?"

Maybe not...

Sasuke lazily slid one eyelid half-open and found that the chunin was referring to the peep hole in the fence between men's and women's baths. He knew that Naruto would have probably wanted to sneak a peek but he just didn't feel like doing it. It was disrespectful to the women and at times plain suicidal, given the strength of some kunoichis.

"Aww, you're no fun today!" Konohamaru whined at his lack of reaction. "Fine, I'll just look by myself!"

Sasuke ignored him, sinking deeper into the water and doing a breathing exercise. Deeply inhale through the nose... Slowly exhale through the mouth...

"Oh wow! What a hot babe!" he heard Konohamaru mutter to himself.

Deeply inhale through the nose... Slowly exhale through the mouth...

"Mmmm, such sexy legs!"

A twitch developed on Sasuke's brow, but he continued the exercise. Deeply inhale through the nose... Slowly exhale through the mouth...

"Hehehe... I didn't know Sakura-nee has such a nice rack..." Konohamaru giggled.

Deeply inhale through the nose... Slowly exhale through... What?!

In a flash, Sasuke was at the fence, and half a second later a big splash signalized the place where Konohamaru was thrown into the pool. The chunin quickly swam up , breaking the surface and coughing.

"What the hell, boss! Why did you do that? You said Sakura isn't your girl anymore!" he pointed at Sasuke in accusation.

The Uchiha barely spared him a glance from his search of something to plug the hole up. So Naruto had said something like that?

"If you wanted to be the only one to see Sakura-nee's boobs, you should have said so!" Konohamaru didn't stop his angry tirade.

"You wanted to see my... boobs?" a familiar female voice sounded from above them.

Sasuke raised his gaze to meet Sakura's furious green eyes, glaring at him murderously. She was standing on top of the fence, safely wrapped in a white towel protecting her modesty. It was the first time she looked at him like that and it seriously made him feel uncomfortable. Shouldn't she know that he wasn't that kind of pervert?

"Were you peeking? Na-ru-to?" she asked, cracking her fists threateningly and Sasuke paled as he remembered that he was still in the henge.

He couldn't run... If he ran, she would go after him and someone else would see her in just a towel...

He couldn't drop the henge... If he did, he would break his word to Naruto...

There was only one thing to do...

"Shannaro!"

Sasuke closed his eyes and thought of Konoha.

* * *

"Sheesh, Naruto, how many times did I tell you to stop being such a pervert?" Sakura groused, healing the wounds she has inflicted on him. They were in the hospital, where she has brought his broken and bleeding body after her punishment. Thankfully, she's got Konohamaru to dress "Naruto" back in his clothes beforehand.

"Yeah..." Sasuke replied, his eyes on the ceiling as he tried to ignore her hands on his torso, mending him back together gently.

Though her touch was clinical, he couldn't stop himself from noticing how warm and soft it was. He enjoyed it much more than he was willing to admit. Why did he have to look like Naruto again?

"I'm finished," Sakura announced and he snapped his gaze back to her face. She wore a vaguely annoyed look but underneath it there was a bit of fondness. It bothered him.

It bothered him because the warm shine she usually had in her eyes when looking at him was gone.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan," he replied, just as the dobe would say.

"Just go already, you probably have a ton of work in the Tower waiting for you," she replied offhandedly, turning her attention to the medical supplies on the shelf.

Was that what it meant to be Naruto? To have Sakura look at you without that special, warm, happy shine in her eyes?

Sasuke never wanted more to be back in his own skin.

* * *

The rest of a week Sasuke holed himself up in the Hokage's office, appointing an hour a day for visitors and not a second more. Usually the visitors happened to be the elders harping on him about this or that, mainly about the treaty with Iwa. Fortunately, he had familiarized himself with that issue the first day after coming from the hospital, so he knew how to deal with it. Other times he was filling in the paperwork, assigning missions, receiving the reports and generally waiting for the dobe to come back already. He couldn't even go train, because he couldn't use Naruto's techniques, which would immediately expose him as the imposter.

The seventh day a small toad appeared on top of the Hokage's desk. It croaked and handed Sasuke an envelope.

He opened it curiously. Inside was a postcard with a photo of two busty women in bikini, holding a beer. On the other side of it he found a message in Naruto's messy scribble.

_Hey teme! How's it being the Hokage? I bet you're having fun! Hinata-chan and me have lots of fun here too, the weather's great. I think we'll stay another week, so extend our mission's time, alright?_

_Your great Hokage, Naruto-sama_

The postcard crumpled in Sasuke's fist hold as he stared at it enraged, then quickly incinerated it.

He would never agree to do Naruto a favour ever again.

* * *

_AN: So not much of SasuSaku, but I hope you found it funny. For Sasuke it was the unlucky thirteenth. Thanks for reading and please review!_


	14. Bad at Romance

**Title:** Bad at Romance

**Summary: **Sakura contemplates her romantic moments with Sasuke and finds herself frustrated.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Our First Place  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Innards, if you're squeaky, don't read.  
**Comments: **Lots of SasuSaku moments! Just without the cuteness...

* * *

Sakura was in a wretched mood and it was all Ino's fault.

The two kunoichis went out together for a lunch, intending to catch up as both of them had demanding and time-consuming jobs, which didn't allow them to see each other as much as they would want. And of course, their conversation, when the general gossip and little news about their mutual friends and acquaintances ran dry, was steered into the direction of their own love lives.

Don't take her wrong, Sakura loved Ino as a sister she never had but listening to the blonde gush about the latest place Shikamaru had taken her on a romantic date was just too aggravating even for the medic. However, Sakura didn't have the nerve to stop Ino's complete recollection of the date, knowing that if she did, she herself would be inevitably subjected to her friend's interrogation on her love life, which she would prefer to avoid at all costs.

Why was it that every other kunoichi she knew has recently found herself a boyfriend, Sakura pondered angrily as she made her way back to the hospital. Why was it that everyone else got to experience romance in their life, but not her?

For instance, take Hinata. The quiet girl finally captured Naruto's attention and from what Sakura heard, he asked her out on a picnic date! A picnic date! Not to Ichiraku Ramen! They went on a romantic date in the beautiful spot on top of the Hokage Mountain, from where there was the most spectacular view of the village. And it was a date with sunset watching! Sakura was both amazed at Naruto's thoughtfulness and envious of Hinata's luck.

Sakura grumbled to herself intelligibly and snapped on the surgical gloves, preparing to give the corpse on the table an autopsy. The ANBU agents have brought the man's body sealed in the scroll this morning. He was presumed to be one of Orochimaru's experiments and Sakura was to find out what exactly was altered in him.

It wasn't that she lacked the love in her life altogether, she admitted to herself, making a deep incision in the man's sternum and peeling the tissue delicately to the side. It was that whenever these special moments happened it was always in the most of unromantic places and circumstances!

Sakura noted the changes in the dead man's lungs and arteries connecting with them, then took a tissue sample for later examination under the microscope. She let out an angry huff. There was only one person to blame for her frustration.

Uchiha Sasuke, her former genin teammate and ANBU captain extraordinaire, who also happened to be her not quite boyfriend. Frankly, what exactly was going on between the two of them was beyond her own understanding. He never asked her out, never confessed, never said anything at all! And yet, there were some unvoiced, complicated feelings at play, provoking the sizzling tension in their every encounter as of late.

Sakura would have started tearing her hair out in frustration if her hands weren't at the moment busy with examining the heart of the deceased man. Unlike her own, it was dead calm and devoid of activity. It also had three cardiac ventricles. Sakura paused, puzzled with the strange anomaly, then decided to take a closer look, her curiosity picked.

With Sasuke, the moments they've shared started innocuously enough. The first one had been on the mission a month ago. They had been separated from the rest of the team and surrounded by the dozen of B-rank missing-nins. To make the matters even worse, it had been pouring rain and the ground had been muddy and slippery. The fight hadn't taken long, mostly thanks to Sasuke's lightning techniques which had been more effective in the damp environment. When she had stood there with him, amongst their fallen enemies, surveying the carnage, their eyes had inadvertently met and in some unexplainable way a spark had seemed to go off between them. Sakura remembered feeling Sasuke's heavy, inquisitive gaze turned on her and how it had made her breath catch in her throat. Even now, the sheer memory of his dark intensity was causing a quivering shudder in her insides.

At least, she believed it was the memory and not the sight of purple-yellow strange lumps on the right side of the heart she was examining.

After that brief, tension-laden moment on the mission, they hadn't seen each other for a few days and their next meeting had been in the Hokage's office. However, even in the company of other people, she had felt Sasuke's gaze on her, making her uncomfortable without him needing to speak a single word to her. It was driving her crazy, how easily he could affect her without trying.

Sakura breathed out deeply, finally figuring out why the heart was so misshaped as she found the subtle marks of a transplant surgery. She had every reason to believe the organ originally belonged to some sort of animal, but without further research she couldn't say for sure which species.

Their second large moment had been in a janitor's closet, of all places. Sakura had been in a hurry as she had been on her rather short break, when Sasuke had accosted her. He had wanted to tell her something in private, but they had heard a person approaching. Before Sakura could have uttered a word of protest, he had manhandled her into the tiny, dark closet smelling strongly of detergents. After the steps had quieted with the distance, she had looked up at the Uchiha who had been holding her dangerously close to himself. Sakura remembered opening her lips to ask irritably what he had wanted that couldn't have waited for after work, when his lips had assaulted her aggressively and all thoughts of anger had flown out of her mind.

Sakura reddened, but shook her head to dispel the lingering embarrassment at that event. Yes, she had lost her first kiss to Uchiha Sasuke like she had always dreamed... but it had happened in a freaking closet! How could she be happy with this?

The medic viciously picked up a wire saw to remove the fragment of a skull bone and have a look at the brain of the cadaver, her dark thoughts still centered on the insufferable Uchiha. It seemed to her like he didn't actually possess a brain, because after their kiss, he had disappeared off the face of the earth. For two weeks she had been left hanging, without any sort of explanation of what was it he had wanted with her, losing sleep as she's been agonizing over it. Then, this morning, the ANBU has brought her the dead body to examine and she was positive their squad leader was no one else but Sasuke.

She was nervous.

Knowing that he had been away on the mission (and yes, she was too prideful to ask Naruto or anyone else where he had been so she had assumed he's been avoiding her), she both expected and dreaded the moment when he would finally approach her and maybe shed some light on his previous actions towards her. Her stomach was in knots, but she just tried to ignore the feeling and concentrate on the brain examination. The organ looked normal enough but she still took samples from a few places, before moving on to the man's abdomen.

"Sakura."

She paused at hearing her name, then continued slicing the precise incision in the cadaver's central area. She didn't have to turn to know who spoke.

"Afternoon, Sasuke," she greeted coolly, not taking her eyes away from her work.

He moved closer to the table and settled to her right, out of the way. "Have you found out anything?" he asked.

So it was a business call. Sakura squashed the disappointment with a flare of cold anger.

"If that's all you want to know, you can wait for the full report after I'm done here," she replied frostily.

Sasuke stayed silent, watching her as she examined the corpse's stomach. She noted that it also appeared to be transplanted from an animal, most probably a cow. The idea of such a thing both baffled and grossed her out, though it didn't show on her face. What was a purpose of such an operation? She didn't have a clue and she needed to have a full picture before even making an educated guess.

"If there's nothing more, you can leave, Sasuke," she said to him dismissively.

His gaze was again boring into her and it was distracting. She wished he would just leave.

Sasuke didn't budge from his spot and she finally pulled her eyes away from the somewhat macabre view of the experiment's guts to look up at him. They made eye contact and the spark once again went off, making the tension palpable in the air.

"Sakura," he spoke and she couldn't wrench her gaze away from him, his dark eyes pulling her in with some sort of wordless spell. "Do you have time in the evening?"

Sakura stared at him speechless. Was he doing what she thought he was doing?

"W-what?" she stammered out in disbelief.

"Do you have time this evening?" Sasuke looked annoyed at having to repeat himself.

Was he really planning on asking her out for their first date in the morgue? When her hands were covered in the blood and bodily fluids of a dead body?

Sakura swallowed. "Y-yes, I clock out at five," she answered him.

He nodded. "Good, let's meet at six on the training field thirty-seven."

Before Sakura could properly respond, he had already left. She ground her teeth in fury then bit her lip to the blood to stop herself from screaming. He wanted to _train_?

She huffed and got back to the corpse, her thoughts whirling wildly.

Well, at least he didn't ask her out in the morgue. That should count as a positive.

* * *

The autopsy and her report completed, Sakura changed into her usual red outfit and stomped her way to the training field. Her fists were itching to punch something, most preferably the Uchiha that was driving her absolutely crazy.

He was waiting for her in the trees, his posture relaxed as if he's meditated there for some time already. Sakura stopped a few meters away from him and readied herself for the fight.

When she finished stretching, Sasuke broke the silence. "This will be only taijutsu spar, without any chakra usage. Is that alright with you?"

Sakura cocked her head, surprised at his rules, but nodded. She was sure she could still kick his ass even with these restrictions in place.

Just as Sasuke assumed his stance, she sprang at him, attacking with a vicious punch at his solar plexus. As expected, he was easily able to block it. Sasuke threw her extended arm up, making her stumble, but she quickly righted herself and ducked under his jab in time. Sakura smirked. The spar was on!

They traded blows speedily, although when her initial aggression was spent, the exercise started to feel rather relaxing. Without the chakra there was no real threat of a damage to any of them and the only taijutsu rule made the fight pretty straightforward. Soon, it was just her, Sasuke and the steady rhythm of their movements together.

Then the trance was broken as Sasuke unexpectedly caught her wrists and pulled her up to him, enclosing her in his arms tightly. Sakura stared at him surprised and a little wary of his intentions, acutely remembering what had happened the last time they had been pressed together like this.

He saw the question in her gaze but found himself unable to form a simple sentence. He's asked her here for a reason however he couldn't find the right words to utter in this moment.

"Sasuke-kun?" she whispered softly.

"Sakura..." he started hesitantly. "I don't want to... lose you."

She blinked at this confession and he stifled a sigh of frustration. It haven't come out right, so he started once again.

"I don't want you to be away."

"I'm not going anywhere," she pointed out dumbfounded.

"Away from me," Sasuke clarified.

Sakura reddened. Did he mean what she thought he meant? Could she allow herself to hope? She looked at him carefully, but he stayed silent.

That was it?

Her eyes narrowed, the frustration simmering in her once again. He must have sensed the change in her, because he leaned down to her, their noses almost touching as he gave her a deep, soul-searching look, then having made some sort of decision, captured her lips in a gentle kiss. Sakura moaned, losing herself into the waves of pleasure their connection evoked in her, any trace of anger disappearing from her mind in a haze that could be brought only by his intoxicating touch.

"Sakura," Sasuke said when they broke apart, gasping for air.

She looked at him questioningly, still a little out of it after their kiss.

"Join my ANBU team permanently," Sasuke demanded, then kissed her again.

She could only moan out a broken "yes" between their heated kisses.

She knew Sasuke's idea of romance was dreadful, but she resolved that later he would get better with her help. After all, he didn't want her away from him, even if his way of ensuring that left much to be desired.

Sakura smirked, pulling Sasuke into another kiss.

* * *

_AN: Thanks for reading! The autopsy was probably all wrong, because I don't have much idea how it's really done, so I apologize to those who may be irritated with the lack of accuracy in my description of it._

_Feel free to share your thoughts, opinions or point out the mistakes._


	15. After Midnight I

**Title:** After Midnight /I/

**Summary: **In the dark, the princess is stolen away.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Grounded  
**Rating:** K  
**Warning(s): **None.  
**Comments: **This prompt called for some family drama. First part of mini-series. After war.

* * *

"Sakura-chan, your mother and I think you should take your familial responsibilities more seriously."

Sakura would never have expected to be greeted by such words first thing in the morning (well, it was close to twelve am, but still counted as morning) when she descended the stairs sleepily and entered the kitchen. However, she took them in stride, nodding distractedly as she shuffled to the counter to pour herself a cup of coffee. It was Saturday, her day off, and she has blissfully slept in after going out for drinks with Ino and returning home in the middle of the night. They had been discussing what they would wear for the festival today and Sakura was pretty excited with what they've come up with. She couldn't wait to get all dressed up, especially since she had convinced Sasuke to join in the festivities with all their friends. After the war and coming back to the village, the Uchiha was still very reclusive, but Naruto and she were doing their best to involve him in various non-ninja activities.

Sakura smiled at the thought of celebrating with all her team complete and took a sip of her morning, sweet coffee, then added some more cream to it. She let out a small moan, enjoying the rich taste and aroma of her drink.

Sakura's content train of thought was interrupted by her father loudly clearing his throat to gain her attention. She swiveled in her place to look at him curiously.

"Sakura-chan, we'd like you to stay one week in the house," he told her.

She raised her brow dubiously. "Dad, I have work," she reminded him.

"Then you will come home immediately after," he responded imperturbed.

"After work I usually meet with my friends, you know."

"Yes, your friends," he picked up a little too eagerly. "We noticed that you have a lot of guy friends, some of them with a _reputation_."

She gulped down some of her hot coffee and didn't comment, waiting for him to get to the point.

"It's no wonder we barely see you at all, when you spend all your free time with your _friends_ and only come back drunk in the middle of the night," her father spat out.

Sakura's ire spiked. Was he implying something?

"Dad, if it's about yesterday..."

"You mean today," he cut in.

"Yesterday," she ground out, annoyed, "then I was just out with Ino and for the record I didn't come back drunk. I'm a medic-nin, I can flush the alcohol out of my system in five minutes flat."

"Yes, that's what all of them say, that they were just out with girls," he ironized.

Sakura finished her coffee and picked up a riceball that was laying on a plate left out for her, most probably by her mother. Not having any intention to continue this ridiculous talk, she decided to go out for a walk and eat it on her way.

"Stop! Where do you think you're going?" her father clasped her wrist in a steely grip.

"For a walk, now let me go," she gritted out. She wasn't in a habit to yell at her parents, even if they frustrated her from time to time.

"I told you, you're not going anywhere," he said sternly. "It's time you stayed for once with your family and that's final."

Sakura gaped. Was he out of his mind? What about the festival? He couldn't stop her from going, she outranked him, for god's sake!

But her father gave her a hard, authoritative look that meant he made up his mind. And when her mother came back from shopping literally a minute later and instead of helping her, backed him up, Sakura with a touch of disbelief realized that at age eighteen, for the first time in her life, she was grounded by her parents.

* * *

"Hey, teme! Let's check out that stand!" Naruto pointed at the booth with festival masks and skipped ahead to reach it first. Sasuke strolled leisurely after him, knowing that any attempt to slip away would be futile. His friend wouldn't hesitate to use the sage mode and drag him back to the festivities if necessary and he preferred to avoid making a scene so soon after his full reinstatement as a Leaf shinobi.

"That one's awesome!" Naruto exclaimed his admiration of a warrior toad mask. Sasuke suspected such enthusiastic reaction had a lot do to with the bright orange markings on it.

After the blond acquired the mask, the two teammates continued their trek through the bustling streets in search of their friends, who they found at Team Asuma's favourite barbeque restaurant. All of the Konoha's new generation's most talented ninjas were gathered there, enjoying a special festival menu. All of them sans their own pink-haired teammate.

Sasuke frowned, puzzled and displeased at Sakura's absence. She was the one who had convinced him to come to the celebration, although she knew perfectly well that he hated the crowds and now she didn't even show up herself?

"Hey, everyone!" Naruto greeted their friends loudly and plopped down on a seat next to Shikamaru. "Huh? Where's Sakura-chan?" he asked, also noticing the suspicious lack of pink around.

Ino chortled. "Forehead-chan is home," she explained.

"Why? She said she would come with us!" Naruto looked at her for an answer.

"The plans have changed," Ino said amusedly. "Her parents grounded her for a week."

"Eh? What does _that _mean?" Naruto, being an orphan and never subjected to the parental discipline, didn't understand Ino's explanation.

"She must have done something to piss them off, now she can't go out of house for a week," the blonde kunoichi elaborated for his sake.

While Naruto was demanding more details, Sasuke's mind was whirring in thought. He really didn't like that Sakura left him there with the rest of them. She was the one who made him go and now he would suffer the others alone because she had to get herself benched by her parents just before the main event?

Unacceptable.

Sasuke didn't refuse a full sake dish handed him by Kiba and when no one was looking, skillfully replaced it with Naruto's empty one.

* * *

Sakura sighed, closing her bedroom's door after herself and falling on the bed tiredly without bothering to switch the lights on. No matter how much she had reasoned and argued, her parents were immovable in their grounding decision and so she wasn't allowed to participate in the festival. Instead she helped her mother prepare the dinner and wash the dishes after, then suffered through the evening of going through the old photo albums with her baby pictures and watching her parents' favourite comedy with them. She was feeling upset and ridiculous, caving to their demands like that, but they _were_ her parents. They seemed to be really happy to have her around and she couldn't stop the tiny amount of guilt at her own discontent with them. She admitted that lately she has been going home only to sleep, shower and change and has missed more family dinners than one or two. Maybe her parents did have a point with the neglecting family argument.

Sakura huffed and turned on her side. Still, they went too far! She really wanted to go to the festival with her friends. And she even made sure Sasuke-kun would be there... What would he think of her now that she hadn't come?

Someone tapped at her window and she shot up to her feet, swerving to look at the intruder. Her jaw dropped slightly when she saw that on the other side of the glass it was no one else but her Uchiha teammate.

Hurrying to the window, she quietly opened it and hissed out, "Sasuke-kun! What are you doing here?"

"You didn't come," he responded evenly, as if it was a reason enough.

"I'm grounded! Didn't Ino tell everyone?"

"Yes, she did. So?" Sasuke replied nonchalantly, not getting her point.

"I can't go! Or they'll make it worse!" she clarified in a hushed tone. Sasuke gave her an indecipherable, assessing stare.

"Sakura, you're a ninja."

"What does it have to do with..." she started in annoyance, then caught his meaning, "... oh."

Sasuke looked at her and she found traces of mirth in his expression. Sakura blushed, feeling like a fool. Shaking off the slight embarrassment, she regarded him seriously.

"Alright, Sasuke-kun. Give me ten minutes."

He nodded in agreement and backed off from the window to allow her some privacy. Sakura tore across the room to her closet and quickly changed in the light green kimono she had planned to wear to the festival. Because of the darkness in the room, she decided against trying to put on the make-up, instead just brushing her hair. She didn't use the perfume as the lingering smell would be a dead giveaway that she went out. After all these personal preparations, she placed a few pillows under the duvet to imitate her own body and on top of that cast a genjutsu to make sure that her parents wouldn't feel the need to come in and check if she really was sleeping in the bed.

Ready to leave, Sakura noiselessly leapt out of the window and slid it close carefully, using chakra to stick to the wall. Sasuke was waiting for her on her neighbour's rooftop and she jumped there to join him.

"Let's go," she whispered, the excitement of her escape making her eyes shine more vibrantly.

"Aa."

In a few minutes they got to the center of Konoha, where most of the festivities took place. Sakura looked over the crowded streets, brimming with colorfully dressed people, playing and drinking together, but her giddy smile suddenly changed into a worried frown.

"I can't go," she declared angrily. "Someone will see me and it will get back to my parents."

Sasuke thought it over. "Wait here," he instructed and leapt down on the street before she had a chance to question what he planned.

Five minutes later, he was back with two cat masks in tow. He handed her the blue one, while he donned the black one himself.

"Thanks, Sasuke-kun, but my hair..." Sakura started, then trailed off in surprise, when he ran his hand through her silky pink locks.

"A genjutsu," he explained shortly and she nodded, averting her face from him to hide the slight blush adorning her cheeks. The sensation of his hand in her hair felt so good...

Sakura put on her cat mask and they jumped down to the street and mingled with the crowd. There were so many people around, that a few times she was almost separated from Sasuke, so in the end he grasped her hand firmly in his own. A rush of heat went through her and she just knew she was bright red beneath the mask, but Sakura was too happy to care, instead choosing to simply enjoy their closeness.

Sasuke patiently allowed her to take a lead and explore the various booths at her own leisure, from time to time giving a short comment when it was required. Sakura found herself having a time of her life, even if she had to hide her identity and she couldn't go see the rest of their friends. On the other hand, having Sasuke's company all to herself made up for it all...

Soon, she sensed that he may have had enough of the loudness and, wanting him to enjoy himself too, she suggested to go somewhere quieter. Sasuke nodded and she felt his relief, as this time he led her through the town to the riverbank. There was a nice, secluded grassy spot where they rested together.

When their hands parted and they pulled off the masks, Sakura had to squish the twinge of disappointment. Still, the river gleamed and glittered under the moonlight and the peaceful silence besides the chirping of cicadas only added to the beauty of the moment, making her forget about her loss of contact with Sasuke.

"It's close to the midnight," she murmured, not wanting to ruin the atmosphere with something louder than a whisper.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke nodding, the sight of his handsome profile taking her breath away for some reason. Impulsively, she grabbed his hand again and entwined their fingers. He turned his head to look at her inquiringly and she was about to let go, fearful that she went too far when he tightened their hold.

"Sasuke-kun," she began softly, "why did you come for me?"

He slid his gaze away from her and rested it on the river before them, his expression unreadable. Sakura stared at their hands clasped together, waiting hopefully for his answer.

"This festival would be a waste of my time... if you weren't there," he finally replied.

Sakura's heart almost leapt out of her chest at hearing such words from him. It was just too perfect. Tears pricked at her eyes at the thought that it could be just a dream or a genjutsu and she tugged his hand that was still in her hold gently to place it against her thumping heart. The warmth of his hand pressed to the center of her chest assured her that it was all real and Sakura smiled gratefully.

Sasuke gazed at her again, startled by the strange action, but he didn't try to pull away from her.

"Sasuke-kun... Thank you for coming," she uttered.

He inclined his head. Sakura let their hands down to rest between them as they both looked up at the night sky, which soon became lit up with a magnificent display of fireworks.

And when Sakura pressed herself against Sasuke's side and leaned her head on his shoulder, he didn't withdraw from her touch, both of them enjoying the closeness as contended air settled over them.

* * *

_AN: So, I decided to write a three-part mini-series. I can't believe something so mushy came out of me, but I guess that's the point. Anyway, thanks to those who reviewed the previous story, it really means a lot to me!_

_As always, feel free to share your thoughts, opinions or to just point out the mistakes._


	16. After Midnight II

**Title:** After Midnight /II/

**Summary: **In the dark, the princess is stolen away.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Secrets  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Some language.  
**Comments: **Continuation of the previous chapter. Second part of mini-series. After war.

* * *

The morning light sneaked furtively into the room, filtering through the uncurtained windows and waking the young man from his restful slumber. He lazily slid his eyes open and stretched on the bed in an unhurried manner. He didn't remember the last time he'd had such a good sleep. After getting up and doing a few exercises to get his blood flowing, the young man trudged into the bathroom. He glanced at his bed-mussed reflection as he was brushing his teeth and couldn't help but notice just how relaxed he was feeling.

The cause of his tranquil disposition became known to him when he went back to his bedroom. On a chair there was laying a neatly folded light green woman's kimono, which reminded him of all that had happened the previous night.

_Sakura..._ he smiled unwittingly, thinking of feather-light touches, the shared warmth and the encompassing serenity he had experienced being with her at the festival.

Slowly unfolding the kimono, he brought the material to his face and breathed in the sweet, heady scent that was so undeniably _her. _He closed his eyes to sink deeper into the memory.

The loud banging at the door snapped him out of his daydream. Shoving the kimono under the blankets on his bed, he walked to the door, scowling. He had a good idea who was bothering him so early at the morning.

"Sasuke-teme!" Of course the visitor at this hour could be no one else than his best friend and teammate, Uzumaki Naruto. And of course he had to be so irritatingly loud. "You dirty bastard!"

Sasuke frowned at the insult.

"How could you ditch all of us?! You promised to stay at the festival but you took the first opportunity to bail out! Where the hell did you go, teme?" Naruto shouted at him accusingly.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and not quite lied, "I was at the festival, just somewhere quieter."

"But you weren't with us like you were supposed to! If Sakura-chan had been there, she wouldn't have let you disappear like that!"

Sasuke smirked. "Not my fault that you're such a shitty guard," he couldn't resist throwing a jibe at his friend.

Naruto bristled at that remark. He'd had too much alcohol that evening and so he hadn't realized Sasuke had been gone until the celebration had been practically over... though he remained blissfully unaware that it had been Sasuke himself who had gotten him drunk by constantly slipping his drinks to the blond.

However, Naruto couldn't stay angry for too long. He gave Sasuke a foxy grin as a new idea occurred to him.

"Teme, let's go to Sakura-chan's. Maybe she'll want to have ramen with us," he suggested.

"Dobe, she can't go out, she's grounded," Sasuke reminded him.

Naruto shrugged off. "It can't be such a big deal, why would her parents not let her go out with us? We're her teammates!" he argued. His mind made up, he led the way, looking over his shoulder to see if his friend joined him.

Sasuke had no choice but to follow after Naruto, his hands deep in his pockets and a small frown marring his features, as he guessed that things at Sakura's would be nothing like the dobe thought they were.

He was right.

The man who opened the door, no doubt Sakura's father, didn't hide his grimace at the sight of the two of them. Despite his fierce, unwelcoming glare, Naruto wasn't deterred in the slightest.

"Hi, is Sakura-chan home? We're her teammates, Naruto and Sasuke, and we want to go out with her for some ramen!" he announced cheerfully, but his words caused the man's mood only to darken.

"Sorry, _boys_," Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the strange, disdainful inflection in the man's voice, "but Sakura can't go with you. She's busy. Come back in a week."

Naruto pouted. "I know she's grounded but she should be allowed to go with us. We're her team – we're basically her family!"

It was the wrong thing to say. The fierceness of the man's glare turned up a few notches and even Naruto stepped back, feeling suddenly intimidated.

The tension was broken by the call from inside of the house. "Dad, did someone come over?"

"It's nothing, sweetheart!" he replied.

"Sakura-chan, it's me!" Naruto shouted to contradict him. Sakura's father gave him a truly frightening stare but the blond resolutely stood his ground this time.

However, there was nothing now the man could do to stop his daughter from emerging out of the kitchen and coming to the door.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" she asked perplexed and then upon noticing that Sasuke was also there, she gasped out, "Sasuke-kun too?" A small amount of pink tinted her cheeks and he knew exactly what she was thinking about – their time together the night before.

"Sakura." He inclined his head neutrally, mindful of Sakura's father watching them like a hawk. Besides he needed a second to compose his features into their usual stoicism as the sight of her, even if she was clad in comfortable home clothes – a T-shirt and grey loose shorts showing quite a bit of her slim legs, brought back to him the same memories that undoubtedly were coursing through her mind at the very moment.

"So, Sakura-chan, maybe we could go together for ramen? You owe us for not showing up yesterday!" Naruto seized his chance to get her out of the house.

"Yeah, I'd like to..." she began but caught her father's displeased expression. "... but I can't, sorry. Family stuff." She looked annoyed saying that.

"You two better get going," her father added impatiently and it was clear he just wanted them gone.

"Dad, don't be so rude!" Sakura scolded. "And if you two have something important, just catch me at work, when I'm not too busy," her eyes found Sasuke's when she told them that.

He nodded almost imperceptibly and she smiled, relieved her message got across.

After a hasty goodbye, Sakura watched the backs of her teammates wistfully, while her father concentrated on burning holes in them with his fearsome glare. Especially in the back of the quiet, reserved one, whom his daughter looked at with a little more then just friendliness.

* * *

On Sundays, Sakura had a short afternoon shift and although Naruto came to the hospital to pester her with his whining about how she hadn't been at the festival and how Sasuke had gotten away from him too, she was too preoccupied with her patients to give him more than a few minutes of her time. Then, just as she had finished working, her father came for her and escorted her straight to the house. And after that, the evening proceeded in a similar manner to the last one, except with playing _go_ instead of looking through the old photos.

Sakura ran her hand through her pink, wet locks in frustration. She's just come out of the shower, which hasn't helped with putting her mind off her ridiculous grounded situation. She sighed, sitting on her bed and wondering what her friends were doing at the moment. Probably having fun together, it was Sunday after all.

Well, there was one person she could picture being as isolated as herself, although of his own volition. The thought of her Uchiha teammate made her heart speed up as she remembered their unexpected intimacy the previous night. What was even more thrilling was the sense of secrecy shrouding their time at the festival.

_Sasuke-kun..._ Sakura blushed furiously at just how perfect the evening with him had turned out. The remembrance of his easy acceptance of her closeness, the attention he had paid to her and which she had felt without him really needing to say anything, the fireworks... if she had been the same old genin Sakura, she would have melted into a puddle of happiness. Instead, she just daydreamed, lost on the cloud nine.

Two quiet taps sounded from her window.

Sakura looked over there, startled and clutching at her racing heart. Was it...? Could it be...?

Another tap got her up and scrambling to the window. She opened it, seeing that indeed it was the Uchiha who visited her the second night in the row. Like the last time, he didn't come inside, however this time around he handed her a package. Seeing her puzzled expression, he briefly explained, "It's your kimono."

"Oh! Thanks, Sasuke-kun!" she said, cradling the bag.

When she had fretted over the grass stains and dirt on her light green kimono and how she couldn't conceal from her parents that she had gone out if they found it in the laundry the next day, Sasuke had offered to get it cleaned for her. What she didn't suspect was that he had just wanted the excuse to come see her again.

After she put the kimono away in her closet, Sasuke was still by the window. She regarded him curiously. Was he waiting for something?

"Are you coming or not?" he urged her snappily and she blushed both at her lack of perceptiveness and at the fact that he practically invited her to go out with him again.

"Y-yes, just let me change," she had enough sense to realize that her pyjamas weren't the best choice of wardrobe for a late night walk.

Sasuke nodded and drew away from the window. Sakura's heart was hammering in her chest. What was happening with him? What was happening with them both? She shook her head. It wasn't the time to question herself.

Just like the previous night, she quickly prepared herself, dressing in her usual red kunoichi outfit and cast the genjutsu on the bed to fool her parents. Then, before she lost her nerve, she jumped out of the window and joined Sasuke on the nearby rooftop.

"Where are we going?" she asked, adrenaline pumping in her veins at another successful escape.

"Around," Sasuke gave an offhanded answer and took off.

Sakura easily kept up with his pace as they hopped on the roofs. Soon they were on the outskirts of the village and lowered to the ground level. It seemed like Sasuke had a specific place in mind, because his steps were certain as he led her down the narrow forest path. Sakura chose to stay silent and not bombard him with questions, sensing a strange unsettled feeling in him.

They walked out on a small, unremarkable clearing. Sakura gave a cursory glance around and spotted a few rotten wooden targets stuck on the trees, which suggested that the place had been used for shinobi training in the past.

"I've found it recently," Sasuke told her. "It's the only place I remember that didn't change like the rest."

Sakura nodded in understanding. Of course, the whole Konoha had had to be rebuilt from scratch after Pain's invasion, but this clearing was fortunately out of range of his technique and so it had survived the destruction untouched.

"You trained here?" she asked softly.

Sasuke nodded, thinking something over, then added hesitantly, "Yes, with my brother..."

Sakura's eyes widened as she gazed over the clearing in wonderment. So it was the only place that held the most precious memories for Sasuke, the memories of his beloved brother untainted by the clan's death? She was more than honoured that he chose her to show this place to.

Sakura turned to him and placed her hand on his shoulder lightly. "Were you happy here?"

"I was," he admitted. Sasuke's dark gaze landed on her, making her insides tremble in the indescribable way. She sucked in a breath sharply as he took her hand from his shoulder and clasped it in his own, pulling her close to him gently, but she didn't resist. She couldn't stop herself from craving his closeness and so the feeling of discontent has been growing in her since they had parted last night. Now she was allowed to be with him again, even if they weren't anymore than friends, or so she told herself firmly.

Sasuke fully embraced her and sighed, burying his nose in her sweet-smelling, still a little wet hair. "Sakura," he murmured. "Thank you."

She tensed at his words, then relaxed again as his hold on her tightened a little. He wasn't going anywhere.

Sasuke was really thankful. The first time he had visited this place after coming back to Konoha, it had caused him so much internal turmoil and conflicting emotions due to his memories of Itachi, he couldn't have stood staying there for more than a few minutes. However now, with Sakura's soothing presence at his side, steadying him on this peaceful night, he found the strength to confront his demons.

Sasuke took a few steps back, leaning on a nearby tree, then slowly slid down into a sitting position, Sakura still in his arms. They made themselves comfortable,with him against the tree and her sitting between his legs. She was pressed into his chest, the top of her head tucked under his chin. They reveled in the feeling of togetherness that was so incredibly intense as they were secretly breathing in each other's scent and enjoying their shared warmth.

That night in the clearing, they barely talked, instead just getting more used to each other as if they were trying to mold together into the perfect fit. When they exchanged words, they were hushed and inconsequential, the meaning unimportant as both of them took the time to make sense of their feelings.

Finally, realizing just how much of time has passed, Sakura pushed off Sasuke, intending to get up, but was stopped short by him. The electric charge went through her as they made eye contact and she stayed still when Sasuke painfully slowly closed the distance between them.

Looking into his deep dark eyes and knowing that he was giving her a way out, Sakura moved slightly forward and let their lips touch.


	17. After Midnight III

**Title:** After Midnight /III/

**Summary: **In the dark, the princess is stolen away.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Inventions  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Some language.  
**Comments: **Continuation of the previous chapter. Third part of mini-series. After war.

* * *

It was a game they played with the world. And they both loved winning.

Sakura didn't know what they were to each other. They never discussed this strange relationship they've shared. It was all so accidental, spontaneous, almost inconceivable as both of them were pragmatic, down to earth ninjas in their everyday life. And yet, when the night blanketed the village, she anxiously awaited his coming, dressed and ready to go at the moment's notice and Sasuke unfailingly appeared to knock on her window and take her with him. Even when her week of being grounded finally ended, they didn't stop their clandestine meetings and she started to suspect that they would never stop as with every next night their need for more, the desire to be alone just with one another was growing stronger and taking root deeper in their hearts.

In the dark and quiet they traveled the village, unseen as they shared more and more – their memories, hopes and dreams, mistakes, even the most inconsequential of details as they both wanted to know all there was to know about each other, to be the only one who truly understood the other's heart. And so their bond grew exponentially, till it couldn't be just contained to their nighttime meeting as it consumed their thoughts and controlled their actions also in a broad daylight.

And the game began. The game to conceal their relationship from the world.

Sakura and Sasuke were extremely skilled ninjas – her, trained personally by the Godaime Hokage and him, practically bred and born to excel at keeping secrets. They covertly exchanged secretive looks and small smiles, hid the light brushes against each other, thought up the plausible alibis for their disappearances so they could go to one of their private spots or just meet up at Sasuke's place. They thought no one would ever catch on, not even their teammates.

They severely miscalculated, because there was one person paranoid enough to notice the changes their relationship wrought on his daughter. And he was also a ninja.

* * *

Sakura's father was normally a jovial, amicable man. He was still a genin and didn't care for advancement in ninja ranks, because as he claimed "his greatest achievement in life was having a loving wife and a beautiful daughter". He loved to laugh and be merry.

That, however, didn't stop him from feeling fiercely protective of his little princess.

Sakura's father remembered the dark time when both of her teammates left the village. He recalled with pain just how much she had been hurt by these irresponsible, inconsiderate, caring only for power, stupid little _boys. _He was perfectly aware of just how brokenhearted she had been, especially over the traitorous Uchiha boy and he swore he would do his absolute best to protect her from such an undeserved harm.

When the blond one returned, Sakura's father just observed the situation carefully and seeing the boy's loyalty and his daughter's obvious happiness, he didn't feel the need to intervene, which didn't mean that he forgot the blond boy's part in Sakura's suffering.

Then, the Uchiha returned and Sakura, though at first uncertain, soon was positively glowing with ecstatic joy, welcoming him back with open arms. Her father didn't share her trust in the boy, however. With equal diligence he scrutinized her interactions with the Uchiha and with a rising dread realized that his daughter's feelings from her genin days were back in full force and much more mature and, what was even worse, that traitor seemed to reciprocate them!

Sakura's father couldn't allow that to happen. He couldn't in his right mind let his daughter's heart be smashed into fine dust by that arrogant little piece of shit.

He also couldn't fight the boy, knowing the difference in power between them. So, he took a different route, a route that would show Sakura that the boy was an unfeeling bastard unworthy of her love.

And so, soon the trap would be sprung and the truth would come out to the light.

* * *

Once again it was dark and Sakura was anxiously waiting at her window, looking out for Sasuke with impatience. She longed to see him, touch him, kiss him... She just longed for him to be with her.

Then she saw him as he hopped on her house and stuck to the wall with chakra. Quite unnecessarily, he tapped on her window to let her know he arrived and she moved to open it and get out...

… but suddenly, with an explosion of blue chakra, a big sealing array unfolded and bound Sasuke tightly in chains of the script.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed, fearing for his life.

Sasuke coughed and struggled in the binds, but to no avail. "I'm fine," he assured her.

"A-ha! I've got you, you little rat!" they heard a triumphant yell from the rooftop and someone lifted Sasuke up there. Sakura knew that voice...

Jumping out of the window, she bounded up the wall on her house's roof to find her father and Sasuke there.

"Dad! What the hell does that mean?" she couldn't stop herself from yelling and cussing at him, she was so flabbergasted, frightened and plain furious at what has just occurred.

"Shouldn't I be asking that question, sweetheart?" her father replied imperturbed. "What was _he_ doing at your window in the middle of the night?"

Sakura stood speechless, unable at the moment to find the excuse for Sasuke's presence.

"I needed Sakura's help with something," Sasuke saved her, though the lie was pretty weak.

"Bullshit! It's obvious she knew you were coming!" Sakura's father observed astutely. "Don't you try to lie to me, _boy!_" he sneered.

"Darling, what's going on here?" Sakura's mother joined the drama on the rooftop, wanting to check what caused the commotion.

"Just caught the dirty rat who thinks he can sneak around here as he pleases," the man explained.

Sakura's mother must have understood what he was getting at, because she urged them to get back into the house and continue this discussion there.

Sakura couldn't believe the ridiculousness of the situation she found herself in – in her living room Sasuke was sitting bound to the chair, her father was pacing in the middle of the room, while her mother pulled her down to take the seat on the couch. Finally, her father reached into his pocket and took out a suspicious vial filled with some purple, viscous liquid. He poured it into a glass of water and ordered Sasuke to drink. Sakura tried to intervene and stop this, but her mother gripped her arm and kept her in place with a shake of her head.

Sakura bit her lip, looking at her teammate worriedly and rifling through her extensive medical knowledge to figure out what was the substance in the vial.

"Now, you're going to talk," her father declared, leaning down and looking Sasuke straight into the eye. The Uchiha remained impassive under the scrutiny.

"Dad, what does it mean? What did you give to Sasuke-kun?" Sakura questioned, fearing the worst. Normally, she wouldn't think her father would poison someone with cold blood, but now she wasn't so sure anymore...

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan, it was just something to ensure he won't lie," he said placatingly.

"You gave him a truth serum!" Sakura shrieked in disbelief. That was just going too far...

"It's necessary," he brushed her off, then turned to Sasuke, who kept his blank expression, though Sakura instantly recognized the angry way his brows knitted together a little. "Tell me, what did you want with Sakura tonight?"

"I... planned to go with her on a walk around the village," Sasuke said truthfully, though it was clear from his clenched jaw that he didn't speak of his own volition, the truth serum forcing him to respond to the questioning.

"Just a walk?" Sakura's father asked mockingly. "Was that all you thought would happen? What else did you plan to do with her?"

"... the usual..." Sasuke was fighting the serum, but it was too strong. "That we would hug and... kiss..."

"Hug and kiss? Hug and kiss?!" Sakura's father was like a dog with a bone. "You think I'd believe this! Tell the truth, that you just wanted to take advantage of her!"

Sasuke's dark look turned into a murderous glare as he rasped out, "I would... never... take advantage of Sakura... never!"

"You say that, but it's not what you do!" Sakura's father continued his verbal onslaught. "You've already broken her heart once and now you're just going to do it again! It's obvious how you're leading her on but in the end you'd just leave her like before, because you're just that kind of dirty bastard!"

"I will never leave her!" Sasuke roared, his barely there control over his temper finally snapping.

"And how can you guarantee it! Huh?!"

"I love her, that's how!"

The room was swallowed by the sudden silence. Sakura sat on the couch, her stunned green eyes staring in amazement at Sasuke, who raised his gaze to meet hers, his expression pained due to the truth serum but holding the love he proclaimed loudly for her. Tears of joy ran down her cheeks as she shot free from her mother's grasp and ripped the ropes binding him to the chair. Sasuke with her help broke off the restraint seals and as soon as his arms weren't bound, he embraced her tightly.

"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura gasped out happily as she pressed into his chest and heard his heartbeat. This was where she belonged.

"Sakura," he murmured quietly, so only she heard the tenderness he put in that one word.

Sakura's parents looked both shocked as they were rooted in their spots, though the father was more surprised that his assumptions proved to be all wrong, while the mother had a faint pleased smile as she eyed the youth holding her daughter appraisingly.

"So, you dare to act..." Sakura's father muttered.

"Darling, stop with this," his wife cut him off before he said something uncalled for. "Just look how good they are together. This boy doesn't lie and you know it."

Indeed, Sasuke and Sakura made a lovely couple, with how they embraced each other forming the unified front. Sasuke straightened out and gave Sakura's father a hard look.

"Haruno-san," he addressed the man seriously, "I admit I made a lot of mistakes in my past, which in turn hurt Sakura. It was never my intention to cause her pain. I'd like to have a chance to repent for my previous actions and she was kind enough to grant it to me. I ask you to do the same, not for me, but for her. Frankly, whether you approve of our relationship or not doesn't matter to me."

"Now, wait here..." Sakura's father started angrily, but Sasuke wasn't finished.

"It doesn't matter what you or anyone else in the village thinks about me. I still fully intend to make Sakura happy. My wish is to live my life with her and for her."

Sakura hugged him more fiercely, at the moment unable to express the powerful surge of joy at hearing this words from him.

"We'll leave you now to think it all over," Sasuke said with an unrepentant smirk and shunshined out with Sakura in his arms.

The midnight was close and he still longed for his time alone with the only woman who could take over his heart completely. Sasuke vowed to ensure that nothing would ever separate them from each other – be it overprotective parents, rogue ninjas or natural catastrophes. As long as he lived, they would be together, always.

* * *

_AN: The mini-series are completed and over. The last time I wrote something so sappy, I was in the middle school. I'm pretty excited for tomorrow, I've got a great idea for that prompt._

_Thanks for reading and feel free to review!_


	18. T&I

**Title:** T&I

**Summary: **Sakura helps with Sasuke's interrogation.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Mirror  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Some language. After war.  
**Comments: **It was fun to write!

* * *

Sakura was taking a short break, letting the other medics take over for a while as she wiped her forehead from perspiration and drank slowly from her water canteen. The inside of the medical tent was humid, the lack of proper airflow bothering everyone, however they were all just too busy with saving lives to do anything about it. The final battle with Madara left almost every ninja with injuries and the healers now had their hands full, doing their best to prevent any further losses to the Alliance's forces.

Sakura sighed wearily and screwed the lid of her canteen shut, preparing to get up, when the tent's flap flew open and a draft of fresh air cooled her skin, bringing a much needed relief.

"Is Haruno-san here? It's urgent!" a messenger called.

Sakura sighed again, wondering what could require her attention now, when she had to concentrate on her work, but quickly strode over to the man. She recognized him from somewhere...

"I'm here. What is it?" she asked.

"Morino-san summons you, Haruno-san. It's about Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura unnoticeably stiffened upon hearing the name of her former teammate. Immediately after battle, that is two days ago, he had been taken into custody by Konoha's Torture and Interrogation unit. Although he was their ally against the common enemy – Madara – the questioning was still in order, as a part of a procedure.

She knew that these guys were true professionals at interrogation. They always brought great results especially if Morino Ibiki was directly involved. If they needed her, it could only mean that Sasuke was being stubborn and refusing to talk.

"What are his injuries?" she questioned while mentally going through the considerably depleted medical supplies she had on her person.

"Actually, he's not injured. Morino-san thinks your presence can help with interrogation."

Sakura stopped short and quickly thought over it. She had half a mind to outright deny going anywhere as there were still too many patients in need of her medical expertise. But...

It was Sasuke. She bit her lip uncertain.

Before the battle, she wouldn't have gone. Before the battle, she wouldn't have allowed herself to care what happened to the traitor while in Morino's tender mercies.

But that had been before battle.

And now, after Sasuke had fought at Naruto's side, arm in arm, to bring down the megalomaniac Uchiha, she couldn't pretend not to care. Especially not after what he had done just after the battle had ended.

Sakura looked at the messenger, who was waiting patiently for her answer, her eyes resolute.

"Lead the way."

* * *

Since the headquarters of Shinobi Alliance had been destroyed by the Juubi's attack, the interrogation unit had taken over a small building not a long distance from the medical camp. Despite the provisional conditions, they managed to make do admirably, Sakura realized, after passing a block of cells, which had clearly been just normal rooms a few days earlier. There were no prisoners in sight at the moment though it didn't mean there weren't any at all.

Sakura was ushered down the stairs to the basement and into a small dark room, where Morino Ibiki already awaited her. However, she didn't spare him a look, as her eyes focused on the sole occupant of the brightly lit room on the other side of the glass. Her heart skipped a beat as she drank in the sight of Sasuke – his relaxed posture, lean, muscular and still so painfully attractive physique even under the after battle grime and exhaustion, the blank, almost bored expression on his face.

Sasuke was sitting at the small, metal table that was screwed to the floor, his long legs stretched in front of him, crossed at ankles comfortably. His arms were shackled to the armrests of his heavy chair which was also screwed to the floor. The chakra binding sealing array on his cuffs successfully prevented him from using Sharingan or any other of his techniques. It was clear the T&I guys weren't taking any chances with this prisoner.

Sakura noticed that Sasuke didn't react to her entrance and quickly realized she was looking at him through a two-way mirror. All he could see was his own reflection. It brought a small measure of relief to her, as she didn't want her presence to be exposed to him right away. She needed to observe him and prepare herself first.

A small cough snapped her attention away from the Uchiha.

"Haruno-san," Morino said in greeting.

"Morino-san," she responded in the same way, inclining her head respectfully. "What do you need me for? I don't have much time," she went straight to the point.

He studied her curiously. They knew about each other mainly due to her apprenticeship to Tsunade but they have never talked, so naturally the experienced interrogator wanted to get more detailed information on her if she was to help with the Uchiha, even if it was just from observation.

Sakura cocked her brow challengingly.

"The Uchiha doesn't want to talk," Morino started and she nodded, already knowing that. "We need to get all the information he has on Orochimaru and fast."

"Did something happen?" Sakura asked worriedly. She has been cooped up in the medical tent for the last two days, too busy to keep up with the news.

"Orochimaru disappeared along with Uchiha's rogue teammates. They also stole the five swords of the Seven Swordsmen the Alliance had gathered during the war," Morino updated her, his expression turning sour.

Sakura looked troubled at first, then her gaze shifted to the Uchiha sitting there nonchalantly and her eyes flashed with outrage and murderous intent. She couldn't believe he had the nerve to keep such vital information away from them!

Cracking her knuckles and still looking downright furious, she asked plainly, "Do you want me to shatter his bones one by one or all at the same time?"

"That won't be necessary," Morino replied coolly, not affected by her frightening display. "We're ordered to obtain the information without damaging him."

Sakura clenched her fists and concentrated on her breathing to calm down. She was more than a little disappointed that she couldn't bash Sasuke's head in. Once again he was doing whatever the hell he pleased, without a single care for the consequences! She gritted her teeth as her eyes stared angrily at his bastard, handsome face.

But this time, the breath hitched in her throat because _he stared right back at her_.

Sakura took a step back, flailing in shock. "Morino-san, can he see me?"

"No, of course not," the interrogator scoffed, though he did appear interested in the strange development. "But it seems like my sources are correct," he muttered.

Sakura looked at him with a frown. "About what?" she demanded.

Morino chuckled. "About Uchiha's interest in you, Haruno-san."

Sakura had to use her chakra to stop the blood from flowing to her cheeks. She knew perfectly well what he was referring to.

Sasuke's most recent, unexplainable by reason or logic, stunt.

What else could she call it, when after the defeat of Madara, Sasuke had purposefully strode to her and, without a word of explanation, grabbed her and kissed full on the lips.

Just like that.

And then he had sauntered away with that smug Uchiha smirk on his smug Uchiha face, leaving her dazed and out of breath and _blushing_, because he had stolen her first kiss and he had somehow known about it.

Sakura gritted her teeth in annoyance at his impertinence, not taking her eyes away from him.

_What an ass._

"So you want me to go in there and ask him about Orochimaru, right?" she asked Morino.

"That would be the best. I'll be here all the time, I'll hear everything. I assume I can trust you to control yourself?" he questioned drily.

"Yes, I'll be fine," Sakura assured him more confidently then she really felt at the moment. But her anger was propelling her forward, so she sucked in a deep breath and walked out from the dark room to take the next door and step into the bright one, where the Uchiha was held.

She had to squint her eyes until they got used to the light. Only then she regarded Sasuke and their eyes met for the first time since that kiss. He must have thought about it too, because he smirked at her arrogantly. Still, he didn't say a thing.

Sakura boldly tore from the entrance to the table he sat at and unceremoniously seated herself across him on the other chair, meant for the interrogator. With her arms crossed and a fierce scowl present on her face, she emitted the annoyance in waves which were almost visible to the naked eye. Yet, she also kept her silence.

Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who spoke first.

"Sakura," he said her name so freely, so unfazed, as if he had a right to say it like they were twelve again that it only increased her irritation. She chose to ignore the quiver that went through her at hearing his deep voice again. Sakura was determined not to show him anymore than her annoyance, not to give him the satisfaction of knowing he still affected her in other ways that she preferred not to think about.

The next thing he said nearly caused her to break that resolution.

"You missed me," he stated as a matter of fact.

She would have taken a double take, but she managed to hold it in. Putting as much indifference in her tone as she could muster, she replied, "No, not really."

It was his turn to frown. Sakura cheered inwardly at confusing him.

"So, I have it on good authority that you're a pretty shitty ally not only to us," she began conversationally, amazed at her control over her voice. It must have been the anger giving her the boost in confidence.

Sasuke looked at her questioningly and she pressed on almost gleefully. "You know, if you were a good one, your old buddies from Taka would have busted you out already. Why are you helping them escape again?"

Sasuke's brows scrunched in annoyance. "I'm not helping them."

"Is that so? Then why are you withholding information that can be crucial in capture of Orochimaru?" Sakura asked sharply.

"So, the best shinobi the Alliance has still aren't good enough to catch a few ninjas without my help?" Sasuke mocked, turning the tables on her. She narrowed her eyes at him and he smirked again. "Not that I'm surprised."

"And why is that?" she took the bait.

"I only choose the best for my purposes," Sasuke replied cryptically and slid his gaze pointedly over her. Sakura's thoughts flashed back to the kiss and she barely restrained herself from an involuntary tremble.

Composing herself quickly, she leaned her elbows on the table and laced her fingers together in a business-like manner. "Well, it would be the best for you if you just told us whatever you know. You could save yourself the hassle of sitting here all day long," she suggested trying to sound placid and, to her inner relief, succeeding.

Sasuke pondered her words for a moment.

"Yes, I could do it," he started, building up her hope that this talk would be over soon and she could finally return to her patients and just be away from him. "But I won't," he gave her another of these damnable smirks and her want to bash his head against the table spiked. "Unless..." he trailed off.

Sakura eyed him distrustfully. He was baiting her. He wanted her to ask and she knew she had to do it if there was a chance he would finally tell them the information. Still, she hated having to play his game.

"Unless what?" she forced herself to ask.

"I get something in return."

"And whatever that could be?" she scoffed seethingly.

Sasuke leaned over the table as far as his manacles allowed him to. Sakura restrained herself from backing away from him, keeping herself perfectly still and visibly unaffected.

"A kiss," he demanded with a straight face.

Sakura recoiled, then caught herself and returned to her previous position. However, she knew it was already too late. Sasuke saw her react to him and she couldn't turn back the time.

"No," she refused him flatly.

Sasuke shrugged. "Suit yourself." It was clear he wasn't going to talk if she didn't comply.

Sakura ground her teeth, arguing with herself in her head. She didn't want to kiss him like it was a payment, no, she didn't want to kiss him period, she corrected herself. However, if he had the information, it would be the fastest way to make him give it up and go back to the medical camp.

The choice was easy, but she still abhorred it.

"Alright, I'll do it," she said through clenched teeth.

Sasuke's triumphant expression didn't help her with controlling her flaring temper. Sakura swallowed her anger and leaned over the table herself, unwilling to get up and go around it to reach him. She wanted to have at least that barrier between them.

Sasuke moved closer to her expectantly. She regarded him for a second and a wicked idea crossed her mind.

"Just a kiss, right?" she asked nonchalantly.

He nodded.

Not wasting much time, she went straight for the kill. She bent forward to him, fully intending to just brush her lips against his cheek chastely.

However, even without Sharingan, Sasuke deciphered her movements and saw through her plan. He angled his face to the side and claimed her descending lips into their second kiss.

Sakura gasped sharply, feeling the softness of his mouth on hers, the conflicting emotions that contact sparked in her mixing and blending together. She was drowning, drowning into his hot, hungry kiss and the dark, seductive eyes...

Sakura wrenched herself away, catching her breath and the panic at the feelings Sasuke evoked in her almost caused her to bolt out of the door. Only her pride and the kunoichi training saved her from doing just that and embarrassing herself any further.

She looked at Sasuke murderously and he stared at her back smugly as he licked his lips, savouring her taste. He smirked again.

"Satisfied? Are you going to talk now?" she spat out venomously.

"Sure," he replied, not lifting his heavy gaze from her.

"Then you can tell it all to Morino-san. I'm out," she declared and marched out of the interrogation room, barely resisting slamming the door behind her immaturely and most probably destroying them with her strength.

Sasuke's eyes followed her exit.

_Until the next time, Sakura..._ he thought amusedly.


	19. What Lays Within

**Title: **What Lays Within

**Summary: **Only Sakura knows the truth about Sasuke.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Between You and Me  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Dark. Violence.  
**Comments: **Sequel to the previous one.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke was the luckiest bastard in the world, Sakura concluded with a frown.

It wasn't that she wanted him executed for his crimes, far from it. His help in the final defeat of Madara had been invaluable to the Shinobi Alliance. But his punishment was a simple matter of principle.

And the bastard got off scot free. Not even as much as a slap on the wrist.

It aggravated her. He had betrayed them, had tried to kill Naruto, Kakashi and her, had sworn to burn Konoha to the ground. He had attacked the Kages. Why wasn't he punished?

She didn't know what had been discussed privately between the Kages and Mifune, what Sasuke had told them to sway their decision in his favour. Although it could have been what he didn't tell them that did the trick, she thought wryly. The fact was, Uchiha Sasuke became a free man, fully reinstated as a Konoha shinobi and a member of Team Kakashi.

For their first reunion (and the first time she would see Sasuke since his questioning), Naruto had to forcibly drag her away from the medical camp. He was so excited to have the whole team back and together, she didn't have the heart to spoil this moment for him, so she eventually agreed to go, internally cursing this situation and her own disarrayed emotions. She resolved to play it cool, no matter what Sasuke would throw at her this time.

They waited outside the temporary arrest he's been held in for around ten minutes and then there he was. Sakura's eyes narrowed as she regarded the emerging figure of the Uchiha. His proud straight back, fresh dark clothes, a sword clipped to his belt and the devil-may-care smirk – everything was in place, making up the devastatingly attractive man.

With a happy grin, Naruto jumped ahead and gave Sasuke a manly hug, which was returned readily. Sakura stood still, not taking her eyes away from that heart-warming scene of old friends reuniting.

Above Naruto's shoulder, Sasuke's gaze found hers.

Sakura took in a sharp inhalation because of what she saw in these hypnotizing, dark eyes.

Sasuke pushed Naruto aside and strode confidently up to her until he stood too close for comfort. Sakura crossed her arms in front of herself defensively.

"What is it?" she asked haughtily, masking her nervousness at their proximity.

Sasuke opened his arms invitingly. "Don't I get a welcome back hug?"

Her brow twitched madly and she clenched her fists. "You don't get a thing from me, you bastard. Find someone else to hug you," she hissed out, not wanting Naruto to overhear that particular exchange.

Sasuke must have caught on to this because his smirk became all the more devious. He leaned to her ear and, after gently brushing a few pink locks behind it and taking the chance to delicately caress her earlobe with the pads of his fingers, whispered huskily, "Sakura."

His breath fanned her cheek and her pupils dilated at the closeness between them. She could smell his clean scent, feel his touch on her ear. Her body didn't listen to her brain, which was ordering it to move and get away before more damage would be done by him, her legs cottony and unresponsive. She couldn't concentrate on anything but his subtle touch caressing the most delicate spot of skin on her ear.

"So soft..." he marveled and there was a dark amusement in his voice as if he knew exactly what he was doing to her senses.

Not waiting for her reply, he embraced her firmly, but not roughly, pressing her body flush to his, as one of his hands rested between her shoulder blades and the other snaked down to lay on the small of her back, dangerously close to the curve of her bottom. Sakura gasped, at first overwhelmed by the amazing sensation of him, but as she caught his low chuckle, the rage came back, boiling to the surface. Once again he was playing with her!

Fuming, she broke out from his embrace effortlessly and, mindful of their audience, exacted her revenge by poking Sasuke in the ribs. She smiled vindictively when she heard a crack of a bone and a pained breath he took in.

"Welcome back, Sasuke-kun," she said with an excessive sweetness, which would have made Sai cringe and cower if he was there. "And for future, let me give you a friendly advice," she leaned up to his face, her eyes like two murderous shards of green glass. "Keep your hands to yourself or I'll crush every bone in them," her quiet threat dripped with malice.

Sasuke just clutched at his injured ribs, eyeing her in surprise but without fear. She was a bit disappointed he didn't show or maybe even feel any, but she vowed to change it soon. She wasn't Tsunade's apprentice for nothing, after all.

Sakura stepped away, donning back the chirpy smile. She turned to Naruto. "I just remembered about something, so I'll leave you two for now. Bye!" she announced brightly.

"Alright, see you later, Sakura-chan," Naruto nodded in acceptance of her excuse.

"Oh, and Sasuke," Sakura looked over her shoulder. "You should get those ribs looked at soon. I hear it's an extremely painful injury," she suggested to him sweetly, as if she wasn't the one to crack them in the first place.

The boys watched Sakura walk off, her hips swaying in a very distracting manner.

"What was that?" Naruto asked, glancing at his friend.

Sasuke frowned, then his expression changed to one of determination, an excited look in his eyes almost scary in its intensity.

"Things just got interesting," he replied, his eyes glued to the retreating form of the kunoichi.

In that moment Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Yo," he greeted them lazily, then blinked at the lack of the usual response. "Did I miss something?"

* * *

If Sakura had any hopes Sasuke would heed her warning, they were dashed very soon. The insufferable Uchiha took every chance he got to initiate physical contact. The only thing he'd learned was to be more discreet in his advances and always watch out for her super strength.

Sakura after that first brazen approach didn't let him repeat it, keeping her distance as she realized in dismay that she would always be helpless against him if he were too near her. The memories of his subtle touch, his strong arms enveloping her lithe form, two instances when his lips eagerly devoured her own – these memories caused her to tingle all over her body and shake in unspeakable want and longing. The mere way he looked at her nowadays threatened to take her breath away if she was caught off guard by him. It both frightened and excited her and the kunoichi, unused to feeling like this about any man, tried vehemently to stop it, reacting more often than not with anger and irritation.

Yet, Sasuke persisted.

During sparrings that she was present at, he did everything to overpower his opponents, all the while looking for approval and awe in her eyes, something she wasn't about to give him. When he beat Lee down in five minutes flat after the green beast had expressed his love for Sakura for what it seemed like a millionth time, and sent her that anticipant look, probably expecting her to swoon, she just rolled her eyes and scoffed, walking away.

Whenever Naruto dragged them to Ichiraku for ramen, Sasuke always took care to sit next to her. She tolerated it for a time being but if he tried to surreptitiously place his hand on her thigh under the counter, she didn't hesitate to slap it away.

Some of her signals must have finally made their way to him, because he changed his tactics. No more did he insist on physical contact, though he still liked to stay as close as she allowed him without touching. He started bringing her gifts, mostly flowers, and she had to admit he impressed her just a little with choosing white daffodils (the same flowers she had given him in that far ago, different time when they had been genin and she had visited him in the hospital after he'd been injured) instead of tacky red roses. White flowers brought some honesty to what he was doing.

But Sakura was still immovable.

It was true that she loved Uchiha Sasuke, the boy who had left the village seeking revenge; however, she didn't even know the man who came back and was trying to ensnare her in his seductive web.

At least she was telling that to herself, because it seemed as if she was the one to know the most about Sasuke. She knew the things about him no one else was privy to – not Tsunade, not Morino Ibiki, not Kakashi or Naruto.

The man that was Uchiha Sasuke was vastly different from the boy she had loved with all her naïve twelve year old heart.

Someone else wouldn't have been surprised of this statement, considering all that Sasuke had gone through – the pain, the revenge, the madness. However, everyone else started to believe he was a truly changed man, cutting himself off from the past and starting with a clean slate.

Sakura knew better.

The others – Tsunade and Morino Ibiki – may have had inclination of the darkness that still resided in the young Uchiha. His old comrades – Naruto and Kakashi – strongly suspected that it was there, yet preferred to look the other way and pretend that it didn't. But Sakura knew it for sure.

She had seen the darkness clinging to him. It was like rust, it had eaten through him to the very core and there was no way to ever get rid of its taint. She had seen in his eyes how he was teetering on the edge of the abyss he could fall into again, if given just the right push.

He had allowed her to see it the very evening of the day he had been reinstated.

* * *

Sakura spent the rest of the day tirelessly attending to her patients in the medical camp, however in the evening she could no longer keep herself busy and stop the rush of fresh memories of Sasuke from taunting her. Her body burned as she recollected the way they had been pressed together and she felt weak in her knees. She needed a distraction.

The late visitor was a perfect one.

Sakura regarded her admirer from Iwa warmly. She was happy that he had also survived the final battle, though a little curious why he came to her again. The man's expression was tight and serious as he searched her face for some sort of a sign. Sakura frowned, puzzled at this.

"What brings you here? Are you injured?" she asked.

The man shook his head. "No, I'm alright. I've just come to... verify something."

"What is it?" Sakura questioned, growing worried at the strange glances he was sending her.

"I've heard about you and the _Uchiha_, Sakura-san," he replied, not hiding his distaste for the aforementioned man. "Is it true? Do you love him?"

Sakura was stunned at the straightforward question, which feeling quickly morphed into being thoroughly incensed at Iwa-nin's brazenness. Who the hell did he think he was to ask such personal questions?

"It's not any of your business," she bit out snappishly.

"I see..." he nodded and got up to leave. "If you love him, then you're nothing like I imagined you to be. My feelings would be lost on a foolish, pathetic woman like you, who welcomes traitors back with open arms. I'm thankful that I didn't pursue a relationship with you, Haruno," he said coldly and disappeared into the night.

Sakura shot to her feet, furious and ready to deal out punishment to the insolent man. He didn't have the right to talk her down like that, when he knew nothing, absolutely nothing! She went after him, her fists clenched and flashing with chakra.

She didn't have to look around for long as she heard a muffled scream, coming from behind a block of tents, at the edge of the forest. She ran there, expecting an enemy staging an attack on the medical camp.

What she found stopped her in her tracks.

The Iwa-nin was pinned to the tree, the hand of his attacker wrapped around his jugular, strangling the man. His face was a mask of agony and fright, his eyes glassy and unseeing. While the sight of him had a shocking value in itself, it wasn't what truly rattled Sakura.

It was the identity of Iwa-nin's opponent – Uchiha Sasuke.

She recognized him even from behind, his uniquely styled hair a dead giveaway of who he was. He didn't react to her sharp gasp and so she knew he must have sensed her coming.

"Let him go!" Sakura finally found her voice.

Sasuke languidly turned his face to look at her. He had a mad snarl etched in his features and Mangekyo Sharingan was spinning in his eyes crazily, the rage enshrouding him like a cloak of pure blackness.

Sakura gulped and stood her ground bravely. "Let him go. Please, Sasuke-kun, let him go..." she said softly.

Slowly, his hand released the choking hold he had on the Iwa-nin and his victim fell on the ground unconscious. All the while, he didn't break the eye contact with her.

"Sakura," he rasped out as her unblinking, hard gaze bore into him. He was calming down, she noted as his Sharingan receded. "I heard what he said..."

"It doesn't matter," she cut him off sharply, then brushed by him to kneel at the downed nin's side and check his vitals. Thankfully the man was alright, but she was more worried about his mental state after the Tsukuyomi torture. She hoisted him over her shoulder easily.

"Sakura, I..." Sasuke started again, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Save it, Sasuke," she snapped at him. "Just... go and cool off."

She took off immediately, but not before catching the unguarded, pinched expression marring his face.

* * *

Now, it wasn't even two months after the end of the war and she had been sent on a reconnaissance mission to Rain Country. The unrest there caused by the deaths of Pain and Konan of the Akatsuki and the subsequent fights for leadership was worrying to Konoha.

Despite that, Sakura wouldn't have been so tense about going on this mission if not for her only teammate – Uchiha Sasuke.

It was the first time they were alone outside of Konoha, forced to work together without the interference of Naruto or Kakashi or even the ever clueless Sai. Sakura felt nervous but determined to conquer the feelings that inhibited her. She resolved that she wouldn't fail and most definitely she would not submit to Sasuke's advances. Thankfully, he behaved himself, occasionally giving her these searching glances that made her insides all jittery and warm, but generally he was keeping to himself.

The mission had gone well and after a week of gathering information and trying to stay dry, which was sadly impossible with the constant rain, they were raring to go back and report their findings to Konoha. However, the unavoidable, accursed complications that Sakura would have rather missed out on, had to ambush them near the border.

"Suigetsu, Karin," Sasuke acknowledged his ex-teammates from Taka.

"Long time, no see, eh, Sasuke?" Suigetsu grinned predatorily. Karin hang back behind him in silence.

"What do you want?" the Uchiha asked but it seemed like he already knew, because he was leisurely reaching for his katana.

"I want to fight you and finally see who's stronger. What do you think, oh fearsome leader?" Suigetsu challenged, pointing Zabuza's zanbato at Sasuke, who smirked arrogantly in response.

The eyes of two fighters met and they charged at each other. Sakura chose not to intervene in the fight, not unless it was absolutely necessary to save Sasuke's life, although she wasn't particularly worried about him. However, she was too smart to underestimate an enemy, especially if he had been Sasuke's old teammate and wielded one of the Seven Swords from the Mist.

The two swordsmen clashed wildly, employing all their best tricks to bring the other down. The level of bloodthirstiness in the air was suffocating. Sakura felt a niggle of worry when Suigetsu used Hidden Mist technique but she kept her senses alert in case he or Karin decided to get a drop on her. The dark vibe in the air made her feel uneasy.

Then the mist lifted as she heard a gurgling noise. Sakura leapt forward to see what was going on.

Sasuke was standing above Suigetsu, his katana plunged in the rogue nin's shoulder and pinning him to the ground as a foot was grinding down on Suigetsu's neck, hence the sound Sakura has heard. She stopped and watched in horror as a malicious smirk spread across Sasuke's face.

"Suigetsu!" Karin also got there and couldn't help but cry out seeing the desperate situation of her comrade.

Sasuke sadistically pulled out his katana and stabbed it into the other shoulder, causing an anguished scream to pierce their ears. Yet, he didn't stop the torture. It was clear that Sasuke planned to make Suigetsu suffer and only kill him when he would get bored.

Sakura looked around undecided and met Karin's pleading, beseeching gaze. The other kunoichi was paralyzed in fear, tears welling up in her eyes as she silently asked for help for her teammate.

Sakura took in a deep breath and moved forward.

A jolt went through Sasuke and he stilled. She was hugging him from behind, her face buried against his neck. He could smell her calming scent, feel her warmth against his back and hear her soft voice as she murmured in his ear, "Sasuke-kun, stop it. Please stop and come back to me. Please, Sasuke-kun."

The tension left his body and when she gently pulled his arms off the katana, he let it go. He took his foot from Suigetsu's neck and the rogue nin spluttered and wheezed, finally able to breathe again. Sakura clasped her hands over Sasuke's, entwining their fingers and speaking to him quietly until the film of darkness receded from his eyes and he came back to his senses.

Sakura turned to Karin and made a 'go ahead' motion. The redhead quickly ran to Suigetsu and after puling the sword out of his shoulder, helped him up and hauled him away, further into Rain Country. Only when they were out of the vicinity, Sakura let go of Sasuke.

A heavy silence descended on them both.

"Sakura..."

She didn't look at him, instead concentrating on a patch of green moss on a nearby tree. Sasuke growled and grasped her shoulders, bringing her closer to him. Still, she was averting her face from him and he became scared of what she was hiding from him. Was she horrified? Disappointed? Disgusted? He didn't know if he could stand any of these, yet he had to know.

"Sakura, please, look at me..."

Agonizingly slowly, she lifted her head to face him and he gasped at the sight of unshed tears in her eyes. She was barely keeping them in. Sasuke closed his eyes briefly as a wave of self-loathing washed over him. What kind of a monster was he?

His grip tightened. "Forgive me..." he uttered. "Sakura, please forgive me..."

"I... need to think..." she shook her head and looked away, then broke out of his hold. Sasuke watched, helpless and numb, as she turned to go.

"Sakura! Don't... don't leave me!" he called out, desperate for her to stay. "I need you!"

The raw emotion in his scratchy voice seemed to reach her and she hesitated.

"Sakura... I need you," Sasuke repeated in a softer tone, taking a step in her direction.

He saw her shaking slightly and realized with a pang of regret that she had to be crying now. Uncertainly, he approached and when she didn't back off, wrapped his arms around her trembling form again.

"Sasuke... just what do you want from me?" she asked suddenly, looking up to him, a few tears she didn't manage to suppress glistening on her cheeks.

"Stay with me," he requested, raising a hand to her face and wiping the salty droplets gently. His fingers, unwilling to part with the smooth skin, stroked her cheek lovingly. "Be with me," he leaned down to her carefully, their lips almost touching, as he whispered, "Heal me."

"I don't know if I can," Sakura replied, equally quiet.

"Only you can," Sasuke answered and, all the time maintaining eye contact, closed the few millimeters between them.

The kiss was nothing like the two previous ones. It wasn't a show of ownership or dominance, instead it was slow, but not chaste; burning, but not searing; intense, but not overwhelming. It was filled with the sheer, unspoken _need_ and Sakura gasped into the sensation, before doing something she hadn't done before – reciprocating. She closed her eyes and put all of her own pent-up desire into the lascivious movement of their lips, answering Sasuke's unvoiced question.

It was true that he wasn't the boy she had loved. But that boy was still somewhere in him.

Whoever was the man Sasuke had become, Sakura also loved him.

And so, they kissed.

* * *

_AN: So, the longest chapter yet, probably because I didn't have such a concrete idea about it. Thank you for liking the previous one and I hope this continuation is to your liking too, though it went in a bit darker direction than even I myself expected._

_For tomorrow, I promise something lighter._


	20. The Last Man on Earth

**Title: **The Last Man on Earth

**Summary: **"Uchiha Sasuke was in a paradise. And he was utterly miserable."  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Paradise  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Language, implications.  
**Comments: **None.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke was in a paradise. And he was utterly miserable.

They say that the world was created in seven days. First there was light, then sky and sea, land and vegetation, sun, moon and stars, animals and finally humans. All was fresh and green and thrumming with life and vitality.

For Sasuke, it seemed like the time came full circle and he had been brought to that primordial state of the world. As he stood ashore, clad only in tattered black shorts, his toes buried in the warm sand of the tropical beach, and looked over the undulating turquoise waves to the thin line of the horizon, he was overcome by a sinking feeling that there was no way out. The world he could reach shrank to pitiful size of the island he was trapped on in the middle of the vast and deep ocean, thousands of kilometers away from the continent.

All it had taken was the storm.

With the end of hostilities and a new era of peace dawning on the Elemental Nations, the Fire Daimyo had thought it prudent to finally expand the boundaries of the known and so the expedition had been sent to explore what may lay on the other side of the thought to be unsailable ocean. And the Hokage had graciously lent the two of his best ninjas to accompany in the effort.

That had been how Uchiha Sasuke had found himself aboard the great ship. And of course, it had had to sink a month later, leaving only him and his teammate alive and stranded on this lone island.

Even though he knew just how futile it was, Sasuke couldn't stop himself from staring into the distance, hoping against reason to see a rescue ship. However, the horizon remained bare and unblemished by an outline of a mast or a sail.

"Are you still sulking?" came a question from behind him. He wasn't alarmed, knowing who it was and having sensed her chakra approaching beforehand.

"I'm not," he denied her claim and finally turned his gaze away from the clear blue to look at her.

Sakura.

She was a vision of beauty, complimenting the tropical island perfectly with it. Sasuke studied leisurely her charmingly untamed appearance – the tangled but somehow not too messy pink locks falling on her shoulders in spirals, the lightly tanned skin and gleaming eyes. She was wearing a strapless top made from the rags left of her shirt that only covered her bust, and a short skirt she put together from large palm leaves. She was holding a small bundle in one hand.

She was a goddess of this paradise island and he was in absolute hell made for a man, because although he could look at her all he wanted, he didn't have a permission to touch and it was his own damn fault.

Sakura regarded him back pensively, her brows furrowed in thought, then in a flash her expression smoothed out again as she took a few steps to stand at his side.

"The rescue will be here in a month, you know. We just have to relax and sit tight," she said almost consolingly and he clenched his jaw reflexively, annoyed that she misinterpreted the real cause of his disquiet.

"Aa," he replied shortly. Of course, he knew they would be found eventually. Just after Sakura's chakra replenished, she had send a slug with a message about the shipwreck and the unfortunate end of the expedition. The help was on the way even as they spoke at that moment.

Still, it left them on this island for give or take a month. Alone with each other.

Sasuke swallowed and once again looked at the sea. He didn't know if he would be able to restrain himself. But if he would not, it would mean losing her forever.

Why did she have to be so tempting?

With a frown, Sasuke recalled the situation and argument that led to this. From a perspective he admitted that she was entirely right – he had been too impatient and now he had to pay a high price for this particular flaw of his. Sasuke cursed himself.

If only he had waited, if only he had first asked, instead of pressuring her like a horny teenager, maybe now he wouldn't be tortured so much.

"_You bastard! I'm not some slut you can do whatever you please to do with! I'll never sleep with you, even if you were the last man on earth!" _The words she screamed out at him just a few days ago back on the ship, before the storm, rang out clearly in his mind, deepening his scowl.

Sakura stood beside him in silence for a while, then sat down on the sand, sprawling. After a moment's hesitation, Sasuke joined her. He watched from the corner of an eye as she took out from her bundle a red, succulent tropical fruit and slowly bit into it. His Sharingan involuntarily activated to follow the reddish sticky juice which dripped on her fingers and cleavage and stained her luscious lips, making them a shade darker. Sasuke gulped thickly as he could think of nothing else than just how much he would like to lick it off her skin and ravish these lips.

He closed his eyes briefly to switch off the Sharingan and center himself. He desperately needed to find his composure.

Sakura must have caught his disgruntlement.

"Sasuke-kun," his eyes snapped to her as she uttered his name. "Would you like a bite?"

He regarded her uncomprehendingly, then saw that she was holding the bitten fruit out to him. He took it from her, getting his hand all sticky too and placed his lips on the red flesh in the exact same place hers just have been, not taking his eyes off her the entire time. Sakura blushed lightly.

Sasuke tasted the fruit, letting its syrupy sweetness spill into his mouth. He didn't like sweets, but didn't exactly mind the natural sugar.

"So? How is it?" Sakura asked anxiously as he swallowed that first bite.

"Delicious," he replied in a low voice, looking at her intently and she instantly knew he wasn't really talking about the fruit. "You can finish it," he handed it back to her.

Blushing, she took the fruit and turned to observe the sea as she quickly ate it. If she was aware of Sasuke's gaze concentrated on her, she didn't show it.

When Sakura was about to stand up, he grabbed her hand. This time, he was determined to do it right, to fix his mistakes and end his misery.

"Sasuke-kun?" her green eyes landed questioningly on him and he found himself nervous.

"Sakura..." he paused, then his expression hardened in the irrevocable decision. "Marry me."

"W-what?" she asked, stunned.

He growled in frustration. "It's a simple question. Yes or no?"

She gave him a long look as she recollected herself. "You're serious about this," she noticed.

"Yes."

"I think you will need to convince me to agree," she told him neutrally, but there was a mischievous glint in her eyes as she smiled wickedly. "That is, if you're absolutely sure."

Instead of a verbal response, he simply pulled her closer and ravished these lush lips he so desired, licking the juicy sweetness off them and plunging his tongue inside in want of more. Sakura moaned into the kiss, gripping at his shoulders to steady herself.

When they parted, panting for breath, he gave her a confident smirk. "How is that for convincing?"

"I think..." she gasped, then continued, "that you will need to convince me some more."

Sasuke was all too glad to oblige.

In a paradise, there were a man and a woman. But it wouldn't be a paradise if they weren't in love.


	21. Fist of Fury

**Title: **Fist of Fury

**Summary: **Taking revenge on Sasuke is an impossible task.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Achilles' Heel  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Language, violence.  
**Comments: **It's a comedy, I promise!

* * *

Sasuke, like any other ninja worth his salt, had an established morning training routine and whenever he was finished with it and went home to take a quick shower, he made it a habit to check his mailbox. The only letters he usually received were bills for water or energy, so this time he paused as he found a black, suspicious-looking envelope in there. He eyed it with an expression of mild curiosity, but didn't open, instead setting it on a kitchen counter, as he figured it could wait. The shower was calling him...

In the end, he forgot all about the strange letter, especially since he was summoned by the Hokage for a mission. It would have saved him a lot of effort that day if he just took the time to read it...

* * *

Sakura woke up in a dark, unfamiliar room, bound to a chair and gagged. All she had remembered from the last night had been her exhaustion after a particularly tricky operation and a double-shift in the hospital. Someone must have nabbed her on her way home, because she could feel a throbbing, splitting pain in her head, no doubt caused by a heavy blow that had taken her out.

The light was suddenly switched on and Sakura closed her eyes, partly because she was blinded and partly due to her headache multiplying. When she could finally safely open them and look around, she found a man sitting right in front of her, a stupid smile plastered on his face as he tutted.

"You should really be careful not to hurt your pretty eyes, baby," he said condescendingly.

Sakura glared at him. She could sense his controlled chakra, so even without wearing a headband she was sure he was a ninja, what was worse – highly skilled one, definitely jonin-level.

"You look like you want to say something," he mocked. "Well, since your man didn't come to save you, I guess I could allow you your last words."

Sakura felt perplexed by his strange statement. She didn't have a boyfriend, so who could he possibly refer to?

The man took off the cloth from her face and she spat out the gag.

"What the hell are you talking about? What do you want?" she demanded impatiently.

"I must have hit you harder than I thought if you don't know, sweetheart," the man raised his brow at her lack of understanding. "I captured you to bait that damn _Uchiha_," he spoke that last name as if it was a curse, "but it seems he doesn't care about his woman at all, since he didn't show up. Isn't he a bastard?"

Sakura stared at the ninja in shock. Where did he get the idea that she was Sasuke's woman?

"I see you can't believe it too," he said almost sympathetically. "Well, you're out of luck. If you can't be a bait, I'll just have to kill you and find out if he has some other weakness to be exploited." He reached for a kunai and leisurely strode over to her.

The man was clearly finished talking. Which was good, because Sakura was finished listening.

With her already inhuman strength aided by the burst of unadulterated, boiling hot fury, she ripped apart her restraints and got up in a flash, then, letting out the bloodthirsty battle cry, she punched the shocked ninja right through the wall. Or, from the sound of it, through two walls, actually.

"I'm not a fucking weakness, you dumbass!" she roared after him and followed, intent to beat him up some more.

* * *

Sasuke, who has spent all day long searching for Sakura, was getting a little tiny bit worried. She had disappeared the last night and they had an assigned mission for the very next day. Where could she have gone, he wondered in frustration, as he walked along the riverbank.

A loud booming sound and a familiar flare of chakra alerted him to Sakura's presence. With a newfound strength, Sasuke ran towards it. From a distance he could see a lone abandoned shack with a large hole in one of its walls. Outside it, he spotted Sakura bashing some guy into the ground. Sasuke winced nearing the bloodbath as he heard the sound of bones snapping in half like frail twigs.

"Just who the hell do you think I am!" Sakura yelled to her victim in the absolute fury. "I'm Haruno Sakura, Tsunade's apprentice, not some weak little girl!" To make a point she kicked the man's abdomen, making him spit out more blood and grovel pitifully at her feet.

"Sakura," Sasuke stepped in, "what's going on here?"

"That fucking prick," she ground her heel down, forcing the man's head into the dirt, "thought he could take me hostage and get away with it!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the idiocy of such a scheme.

"You... damn Uchiha..." surprisingly, the downed ninja was coherent enough to recognize Sasuke. "You're a... real demon... to have such a monster... for your woman..."

"Just what did you call me!" Sakura shrieked.

Sasuke smirked, finally piecing everything together. He made that ninja into an enemy during his travels with Taka. But if the man's idea of revenge was to kidnap Sakura, thinking she was Sasuke's weakness, then he obviously had another thing coming.

Yes, even if she didn't know about it yet, she was the perfect woman for the Uchiha, Sasuke observed proudly, looking on as Sakura, shouting obscenities, pummeled the poor idiot.

* * *

_AN: Sorry, it's not so long, but I had a killer headache all day. Hope you enjoyed this installment._

_Feel free to review or just point out the mistakes._


	22. In Hell

**Title: **In Hell

**Summary: **Tears of blood fall and his Sharingan spins.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Numb  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Death, blood, violence.  
**Comments: **Just read to the end.

* * *

He thought he had already seen hell.

He thought he had experienced hell.

He thought he had lived in hell and hell had lived in him.

He thought there was nothing worse than what he had already gone through.

He was wrong.

* * *

Unforgiving wind whipped at his tattered clothes as Sasuke stumbled across the burning battlefield. He was separated from the others when Obito's blow almost crushed his ribcage and sent him away from the fight. Sasuke moved forward with a determined snarl in place, trying not to dwell on the numerous dead bodies, strewn around the rubble, trying not to hear the moans of the dying as their lives slowly left them, no medics in sight. They had been the first targets and so they had perished.

Sasuke didn't allow himself to think about it, didn't allow the thought that the Shinobi Alliance lost to even cross his mind. All he focused on was the fact that Naruto and Sakura were still alive, were still fighting and he had to join them fast.

He ignored the physical pain, removed himself from the agony piercing through him with every step he took and every breath he inhaled. It was inconsequential, immaterial, unimportant – all that counted was getting there.

Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek and staggered forward. He couldn't fail his team now.

"Ah, Sasuke, so nice of you to join us," Obito greeted him when he rounded the pile of rubble and stopped in his tracks.

Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan absorbed every detail of a scene there. Madara was sitting in a relaxed pose, his face impassive though the triumphant glint in his eyes belied the satisfaction of his victory. Obito was by his side, the mass of scars and rough flesh twisted in a mocking smirk as he reveled in his revenge on the world.

Sasuke's heart lurched at the sight of Naruto and Sakura. Naruto laid on his back, his clothes mere rags, more red than orange from the blood pooled all around him. It was gushing from the enormous hole in his gut. Sakura was hovering above him, a fake, calming smile on her face as her shaking hands glowed with green healing chakra weakly.

"You'll be alright, Naruto... I'll heal you, promise... It'll be okay... N-naruto..." she was whispering to him, valiantly holding in the tears, the wind carrying her voice to Sasuke.

He could see everything. Sakura's chakra was severely depleted, almost nothing left, and Naruto's... it was practically nonexistent. Sasuke watched numbly as the candle of his best friend's life was burning out before his eyes and he could do absolutely nothing.

"It's alright, Sakura-chan..." Naruto whispered back with an angelic smile but his eyes weren't looking at her. They were stuck to something else and Sasuke briefly wondered what Naruto was seeing in his dying moment. Was it Jiraiya, his teacher? All the loved ones who died in this gruesome battle? Was it his mother?

"Naruto... no... please, no... Naruto!" Sakura cried out, tears spilling on her face but it was too late. Naruto wasn't coming back to her.

Sasuke felt wetness on his own face and realized with a start that he was also crying. Why... Why there was such a pain in his chest? Why did it feel like losing Itachi all over again?

Naruto... was his brother too. Sasuke recognized it with the sharp clarity the loss gave him as he heard Sakura's sobbing. He once again stumbled forward. She needed him, she was all he had left and he couldn't lose her too.

If he lost her too – he would be left with nothing.

"It's a shame. Not long ago you would have been ecstatic to see Naruto die," Obito flashed to his side. "Or are you crying because you weren't the one to run a blade through his heart?" He leaned down to Sasuke, jeering.

Sasuke snarled viciously and made a swipe with his kunai, which was avoided with a childlike ease.

"Too weak, too slow. You just don't put your all in this, Sasuke," Obito tutted. "I think I should punish you for your lack of effort." His eyes slid suggestively to Sakura's form consumed by grief, his intentions clear.

"No!" Sasuke reached out with his hand to stop him, but Obito flashed just behind the kunoichi and put her in a secure hold, his kunai right against her throat.

"What now? You could stab through her and kill me, Sasuke," Obito suggested. "Just like with Danzo and that girl. I remember you enjoyed it. Come on, stab her, avenge your friend and your clan! You want to do it!"

Sakura's frightened green eyes were glimmering with tears as she stared at Sasuke, waiting for his decision.

Sasuke glanced around in desperation and found Madara's indifferent, inhuman gaze perusing the scene.

Abandoning the pride and steeling his resolve, Sasuke kneeled on the ground and prostrated himself in supplication.

"I'll join you... As an Uchiha... I'll help you... You can use me to renew the clan... I'll do anything... Just let her go. Please," he pronounced the words clearly and loudly. He didn't care anymore, if it meant Sakura would be safe, he would bear through any humiliation. Fighting now wouldn't accomplish anything, with his reserves barely there, severely injured he didn't stand a chance against both of the Uchihas.

"Sasuke," Madara addressed him and taking it as a permission to rise, Sasuke straightened up, still on his knees. "You don't deserve the Uchiha name. Any clan derived from you would be flawed and weak. The Uchiha don't beg, the Uchiha take what they want with their own strength. And you don't even have that." His tone was as indifferent as his impassive face when he delivered the lecture.

The panic settled in Sasuke when the sense of Madara's words registered in.

"Kill her," came the short, unfeeling command.

Obito smirked sadistically, his only Sharingan spinning crazily. "Watch her. Watch her as she dies, Sasuke."

And he did.

The kunai slit Sakura's jugular in a slow, caressing motion, the deep red spurting out and staining the metal, flowing down on the standard issue Konoha green flak vest. The kunai changed direction and moved vertically, cutting deep down the middle of Sakura's body, through her neck, between collarbones, scraping her sternum and only stopping in the middle of her stomach. Then it twisted roughly in her gut.

A pained scream reached through the phantom cottony earplugs Sasuke had on and tore his own insides with agony. He looked at Sakura's face, past the blood and tears and connected with her green eyes. The light in them was flickering, but in their depths he spotted something that broke him.

The love and forgiveness in her last glance were etched in his memory, unerasable forever.

Sasuke howled like a mortally wounded animal as he lost his mind to the encroaching darkness, his Sharingan whirling madly, bleeding and _morphing_.

* * *

_Let the hell commence._

* * *

It wasn't a genjutsu.

Sasuke looked on in stunned silence as Obito grabbed Sakura, who was _alive and crying and alive_.

"What now? You could stab through her and kill me, Sasuke," the man suggested but before he could continue his familiar, mocking speech, Sasuke charged at him. He needed to save Sakura!

Before he reached them, Obito flashed with his captive a short distance away.

"Tut, tut, what impatience. I think I should just punish you for your insolence, brat."

The kunai plunged into Sakura's throat and Sasuke's ears thudded with his own enraged, anguished scream as her life once again drained from her before his eyes, as once again she _forgave_ him.

The Sharingan bled and spun.

* * *

_Again._

* * *

Begging wasn't an option.

Sasuke turned to Madara, the indifferent and inhumane Uchiha ancestor.

Sasuke didn't prostrate himself and didn't beg. Instead he bargained.

"What do you want from me in return for her life? Whatever it is, I'll do it," he offered himself, hoping it would be enough.

Madara's Rinnegan bore into him and he straightened his spine reflexively.

"You're nothing, not even a nuisance," came the verdict. "Kill the girl."

The kunai slit Sakura's pale throat once again. Her forgiveness burnt.

Sasuke howled, clawing deep red welts in his cheeks. _Time, he needed more time!_

The Sharingan bled and spun once again.

* * *

_Again and again._

* * *

"Ah, Sasuke, so nice of you to join us," Obito greeted, but Sasuke didn't pay him any mind.

There she was, alive and trying to heal Naruto's mortal wound, her arms shaking with suppressed sorrow, her reserves dangerously down. Sasuke drank in the sight of her then flashed forward and grabbed her around the middle.

"Let go! What are you doing!" Sakura screamed at him.

Sasuke tried to pull her away from Naruto, to save her but she resisted him, elbowing and smacking him without much strength.

"Shut up! We need to run!" he hissed, determined.

"But Naruto! We have to save him!"

"We can't! It's too late!" Sasuke snapped at her and saw her eyes fill with hurt, the tears running freely down her face.

"As much as I like to watch your little drama, I can't allow you to escape," Obito chimed in as he appeared before them both, his expression sadistically sliding over them. Sakura stopped struggling for a moment and Sasuke seized the chance to drag her away but he was too slow.

With growing disbelief and numbness he tracked the trajectory of the kunai which tore through Sakura's chest and stabbed her heart clean. Her limp body fell onto him and he held her awkwardly in his arms.

"Sakura, no... not again..." he mumbled in a whisper.

"Sa... suke..." she mouthed his name. A vacant smile danced on her lips and the brilliant love and forgiveness which shone in her eyes when she gave out her last breath killed him too.

Red droplets splattered onto her cheeks. He was crying the tears of blood.

The Sharingan whirled madly.

* * *

_Further back._

* * *

Sasuke arrived at the battlefield, the hulking beast that was Juubi right in front of him.

Naruto and Sakura were alive, the Shinobi Alliance ready to fight against the threat.

Sasuke smirked. With full reserves and knowing how the battle would go, he could change the outcome, he thought.

Then the resurrected Hokages fell before the might of Madara, Obito still razed the Alliance ninjas, Naruto and Sakura fought to the bitter end and died with these damnable smiles on their faces.

Sasuke broke down under the weight of his failure and wept the bloody tears.

The Sharingan spun, faster and faster, changing its shape as he used all the energy left in his body.

* * *

_Even further._

* * *

"Sasuke-kun! I will follow you! I will leave Konoha!"

Sasuke found himself on the bridge in Iron Country, his vision dimmed with the overuse of Mangekyo, but he could still see the vibrancy of Sakura's pink hair, her chakra focused and guarded as she shouted out her fake offer.

Sasuke blinked, remembering this moment hazily. What really mattered to him was that Sakura was alive and the war haven't even started yet. Madara wasn't resurrected and Sasuke had a chance to make things right.

"Sakura..." he said and noticed how she looked at him incredulously, caught off-guard by the wonderment and longing in his tone. He shook off his daze and realized he had to move. Jumping over the gap in the bridge, he grabbed her arm. "Let's go."

"W-what?" she asked, flabbergasted.

"We have no time, we need to find and kill Kabuto before he resurrects Madara," Sasuke explained in a rush.

"But the masked man, isn't he Madara? What's going on Sasuke-kun?"

"Stop being so damn annoying!" he snapped, irritated by her incessant questioning. They needed to act right now! "Just follow my lead and everyone will live!"

He pulled at her arm again, but Sakura didn't budge.

"Sasuke-kun, why don't you ever tell me anything? You just attacked the Kages, declared revenge on Konoha and now you say everyone will live? What's going on? Please tell me!" she cried out, confused, but determined to get her answers.

"Actually, I'd like to know that, too, Sasuke."

Sasuke whipped around and saw Obito materializing just behind them. Pushing Sakura safe behind himself, he assumed a battle stance, entirely forgetting his fatigue from the fight with Danzo, his Sharingan flashing dangerously at the sight of Sakura's killer.

"You," Sasuke growled with absolute hatred and without much thought simply attacked.

Of course, Obito fazed out and Sasuke's blade passed harmlessly through the air. Regardless, Sasuke didn't stop his assault. He felt like he was fighting with a shadow and in a way it was true, but he knew that this Obito was still a person, a ninja with powerful techniques, however not undefeatable at this time.

Sakura, quickly grasping the fact that Sasuke turned against the fake Madara, also joined the fray, trying to sneak on the man as he dodged Sasuke's barrage of taijutsu and kenjutsu moves, however Obito was too fast and avoided her attack too.

"Sakura, stay out of this!" Sasuke ordered, wanting to keep her away from harm.

"I can take care of myself!" she shouted back at him irately.

"Sasuke, I think you should calm down. You still want to destroy Konoha for what it did to our clan, don't you? You don't have any reason to fight me," Obito reasoned as he jumped out of the way of a lightning charged kunai.

"I think you should be dead," Sasuke countered and his opponent must have finally seen the utter seriousness in his change of heart.

"So you really betrayed me... I had high hopes for you, Sasuke," he murmured. "Well then, let me show you what is the price of double-crossing Uchiha Madara."

In the next moment, he disappeared and Sasuke heard Sakura shriek in pain. Dread filled him as he turned to see Obito standing behind her, a kunai buried to the hilt in her back.

"Sasuke-kun..." she spoke and coughed up blood, her legs trembling. However, he saw with the Sharingan her healing chakra working on the wound.

"She's important to you. You were together in a genin team," Obito stated and Sasuke glared in response as he couldn't make himself deny anything. "You want to protect her," the masked man noticed with a sneer.

Sasuke shot forward, anticipating what would come next.

"But you can't," Obito declared as a matter of fact and broke Sakura's neck.

Sasuke roared in helpless fury as the enemy teleported away. Then he reached Sakura's fallen body and tumbled down to his knees besides her. His fingers shakily combed through her pink locks and traced her pale, still a little warm skin. Staring into the glassy, dead green eyes, Sasuke found his resolve.

"I won't let you die, again, Sakura," he vowed, his Sharingan spinning and bleeding. "I won't fail you."

* * *

_Back to the beginning..._

* * *

It was a night in Konoha, the night when the path to vengeance truly began.

"I like you so much I can't stand it! If we were together... I swear I won't let you regret it! I'll make your every day fun and you will be happy! I'll do anything for you! So please stay with me! I'm begging you!"

Sasuke realized with a start that he was back to that pivotal moment when he was teetering on the edge, his choice swayed by Sakura's confession.

"I'd kill for you! I'll help you with your revenge! Just please stay with me! And if you can't... let me come with you..." Sakura sobbed.

Now, with this new knowledge of future events, with the burden of Itachi's death and the Shinobi Alliance's defeat on his shoulders, with the scars left by witnessing her death so many, many times... Sasuke stood before another choice.

He couldn't stay with Danzo still alive and gathering power in the village. Right now Konoha wasn't as safe as its ninja would like to think. This place didn't have what he needed.

If he left her, Sakura would be safe, she would learn from Tsunade and become a brilliant kunoichi and a medic-nin. She would be definitely alright without him...

"You're really annoying," Sasuke turned to face the crying girl, but there was no smirk on his face. He walked up to her surely and put his hands on her shoulders. She stared at him wide-eyed, the tears stopped by her confusion and a glimmer of hope.

"What if... what if I told you I'll be back?" he asked hesitantly.

"No! You can't go alone!" Sakura vehemently rejected the idea, the worry for him shining in her eyes.

And it was his undoing.

For the first time, Sasuke made an illogical decision, a decision spurn by his own desires and beneficial only to himself. It wasn't for the sake of his clan or for the sake of his brother. It was selfish of him, even if he justified it with his promise to Sakura, but he couldn't stop himself from following through with it.

Sasuke gathered Sakura in his arms and hugged her fiercely.

"S-Sasuke-kun?" she stammered, returning the embrace.

"Sakura, thank you," he whispered, his nose buried in her pink locks. He took a moment to revel in her warmth, in her being alive and unhurt... unhurt by him.

Then, pressed by time, he wrenched himself away from her and backed off.

"Sasuke-kun, you're going?" Sakura asked, a bright blush still on her face.

"Yes, now let's go, we need to hurry," he replied impatiently, scanning their surroundings briefly with the Sharingan. Thankfully, no one was around.

Sakura, at first surprised that he wanted her to come, sent him a big smile. He smirked back at her and they ran together, leaving Konoha behind.

_This time I won't let you die_, _Sakura,_ Sasuke repeated his vow inwardly.

* * *

_AN: So, it's my attempt at time travel. Tell me what you think about it._


	23. On the Run

**Title: **On the Run

**Summary: **Sakura has doubts about following Sasuke.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Detours  
**Rating:** K  
**Warning(s): **None.  
**Comments: **Kind of a sequel to "In Hell".

* * *

Sakura was worried.

The first rays of sun subtly touched on the treetops and they have been hopping from branch to branch in the thick Fire Country forests for all night. The young kunoichi was getting tired, but Sasuke set a fast pace, not even once slowing down. Without breaks, relentlessly, he ran as if he wasn't the one being pursued, but the one in a hot pursuit. After what or who – she didn't know.

Right upon leaving the gates of Konoha he had ordered her to hide and wait for him. Sakura, however, hadn't listened, still too afraid that he would have changed his mind and decided to leave her. She had crept silently after him, staying a safe distance behind, so he wouldn't have found her.

Sakura had seen Sasuke prepare a deadly trap in the forest, then attack a group of four ninjas with musical notes on their headbands. Her heart clenched in fear and she had palmed a kunai, frightened out of her mind by these Sound shinobi but determined to aid Sasuke. What he had done next, shocked her.

Effortlessly, Sasuke had summoned a purple chakra behemoth resembling a demonic skeleton, which then had crushed two of the Sound ninjas before they had had a chance to even blink. The other two who had been granted a few seconds to gather their bearings had tried to escape, transforming into some sort of monsters to gain strength and speed. However, Sasuke had hounded them right into his trap and so they had perished in a very grisly manner.

Sasuke hadn't commented when she had run out of the foliage and had joined him as he had stood over the carnage he had caused. He had just regarded the mangled, bloodied corpses with an unreadable look, then had turned away from them and ordered her tersely to follow.

Since that time, no one has said anything.

Sakura glanced worriedly at Sasuke, jumping at her side. He was pale, dark circles prominent under his eyes and he perspired heavily. She knew she certainly didn't look any better, even though she hadn't fought or wasn't even carrying a backpack like him. Her muscles burned with every jump and she was gasping for breath a little too loudly than she would like.

Sakura didn't want to appear weak and useless. She didn't want to give Sasuke a reason to think that she couldn't keep up. However, she saw his exhaustion clearly and recognized he needed to rest or risk collapsing in the middle of the forest.

"Sasuke-kun..." she gathered all her courage and spoke up. Sasuke's gaze snapped to her instantly. "We should find a shelter and rest," she suggested meekly.

Sasuke took in her messy, disheveled appearance. Sakura braced herself for a harsh rebuke, realizing how much he disliked weakness.

"Right," unexpectedly, Sasuke nodded in agreement and ran down the tree trunk, using chakra to stick to the bark. Landing softly on the ground, Sasuke looked up. "Come on, Sakura."

Snapping out of her bafflement by his easy acceptance of her request, Sakura hurried to join him.

They found a secluded spot amongst the greenery where they would be practically invisible to anyone who may have gone after them. Sakura plopped down gracelessly on the grass and stretched out her legs with a muffled groan. From the constant strain of their run, her muscles felt like jelly, squishy and buckling under her weight.

Sasuke sat across her and took off his backpack. She observed him without thinking, noticing how he rotated his shoulders and rubbed at them and how his eyes narrowed in concentration as he rifled through the bag's contents. When he took out a water bottle and sipped a bit from it, Sakura's eyes mindlessly registered and filed unto her memory the way his Adam's apple moved up and down as he swallowed. Sasuke must have felt her staring, because he passed her the bottle, which she took with a muted thanks.

Sakura was too tired to dwell on the fact that she was drinking from the same water bottle as Sasuke and therefore having an indirect kiss with him. Instead she gulped the liquid down, enjoying its coolness as it quenched her thirst. She didn't notice Sasuke observing her intently, cogs in his mind turning as he thought about something deeply.

Sakura screwed the cap of the bottle shut and laid herself as comfortable as she could get on the forest ground before passing out into deep sleep.

* * *

The young kunoichi stoked the small campfire they have started. It didn't give out too much smoke and she was grateful for it. This way no one would notice their presence near the small lake.

When Sasuke had woken her up from her restful nap earlier that day and she had noticed with dismay that the sun had barely moved from its previous low morning position on the sky, they had continued their travel through the Fire Country's wilderness. Sakura had so many questions to ask just on the tip on her tongue, her curiosity stymied only by Sasuke's drawn, extremely focused expression. She doubted he would react too well to her bothering him like that, especially since she suspected that when she had been sleeping, he hadn't caught a single wink, guarding her. So Sakura kept her silence.

Now, Sasuke had left to fish in the lake and she was alone in their makeshift camp, huddling by the fire, the evening getting progressively chillier. Sakura stared into the flames and thought about Konoha, a large lump clogging her airways as her throat tightened unpleasantly. What would Kakashi-sensei and Naruto think about Sasuke and her leaving? Would she be labeled as a missing-nin? Sakura fingered her headband, feeling the Leaf symbol etched into the metal. She didn't want to make a horizontal scratch on it, she didn't want to betray her friends like that. What about her parents? What would they think?

A rustle in the bushes behind her alerted her to a presence approaching. She turned gladly, expecting Sasuke to come back with fresh fish and froze in place when instead of her teammate she faced an enormous bear. The animal regarded her predatorily, its head low as it contracted its legs to pounce on her at a moment's notice. A vicious growl thrummed in its throat and reverberated through the scared kunoichi.

Even consumed by fear, Sakura had a presence of mind to reach for a kunai Sasuke left her for protection. The thought of Sasuke sobered her up from her stupor. She wouldn't be able to look into his eyes if she couldn't even deal with a wild animal. Though it was a very big and obviously very hungry animal.

The bear attacked and Sakura also sprang into action, shooting up to her feet and bolting to the side, as she narrowly dodged a swipe of a heavy paw equipped with extremely sharp claws. The kunoichi quickly ran up a tree and then gathering the last vestiges of her strength, she jumped off the trunk like a springboard and landed on the bear's back. With a mighty cry Sakura plunged her sole kunai into the animal's skull, killing it instantly.

For a short moment all Sakura could hear were her own heavy pants as she struggled to catch her breath, her heart beating so fast she feared it would leap out of her chest. The sudden burst of strength from the adrenaline coursing through her veins subsided rapidly, leaving her woozy and dead tired.

"Sakura!" came a desperate shout and she rose her head slowly to see Sasuke rushing to her side, weapons at the ready as his eyes scanned for more enemies in the vicinity.

_Sasuke-kun is... worried for me?_

"Sakura, are you alright? Are you hurt?" he asked, helping her get off the furry, broad back of the bear.

"I'm okay, Sasuke-kun," she assured him weakly, but still his eyes studied her in search of any injuries. Satisfied with his perusal, Sasuke nodded, then impulsively embraced her.

"I'm sorry... I left you alone, I shouldn't have done it... You're almost out of chakra..." his voice was choked and cracking with so much emotion, Sakura barely believed her ears. She always knew Sasuke cared for his team, to the point of risking his own life to save theirs, but he never expressed his feelings so openly.

The thought that he lowered his guard like that for her... it made her heartbeat speed up once again.

"You don't need to be sorry, Sasuke-kun..." she murmured, hugging him back shyly. "I'm a kunoichi, you know, I can take care of myself."

Sasuke became unexpectedly rigid in her arms, as if her words struck a chord in him, then he briefly tightened his grip on her and finally released her.

"Yes, you're... right," his voice seemed strained to her, but she couldn't check what expression he wore as he turned his face away from her.

She decided not to prod him about it and after disposing of the bear's carcass, they cooked the fish Sasuke had caught in the lake. When their meager meal was eaten, Sakura plucked up her courage and finally asked him about what was bothering her practically from the moment they had set out from Konoha.

"Sasuke-kun? Where are we going? We're not going to join Orochimaru? Are... are we m-missing-nins now?" her voice trembled near the end and she cursed herself for it, clenching her fists to stop them from shaking with nervousness. She needed to show more confidence.

Sasuke's hands enveloped her small fists and held them securely. She whipped her surprised green eyes up to meet his own dark ones, which burned with some kind of quiet, irrevocable resolution.

"Sakura. We're not missing-nins. I said I'll come back to Konoha, didn't I?" he reassured her and she nodded recalling his words from the last evening. It really seemed like a lifetime ago, even if only one day has passed since then. "And we're not joining that snake," Sasuke added with disgust colouring his words. "So don't worry."

"A-alright, Sasuke-kun," she agreed and he let go of her hands. She found herself painfully missing the warmth of his skin on hers.

Even if he didn't tell her where they were headed, Sakura couldn't help it – she trusted him completely. It wasn't a blind trust of a lovestruck girl, though she was undoubtedly one. It was a trust born from numerous instances when her life was endangered and Sasuke was the one to step in and protect her from harm. It was a trust given by a kunoichi to her teammate and a most precious friend. And it was a trust derived from instinct every ninja developed in their life to survive, their sixth sense. Sakura's was telling her that Sasuke meant safety.

The girl realized Sasuke had had some sort of an epiphany. His aura, his behaviour had changed, seemingly in one moment. She liked to think it had been caused by her confession, but she had a feeling it wasn't true. Something had swayed his decision about going to Orochimaru, some sudden realization about which only Sasuke could know.

Something had changed and instinctively Sakura recognized it was a change for the better.

So when they went to sleep side by side, she didn't worry anymore. When she was woken up by Sasuke trashing in throes of some horrible nightmare, like it happened to him from time to time, she didn't hesitate and moved closer to him, embracing him gently and stroking his hair calmingly. And when she opened her eyes in the morning and the first thing she saw was Sasuke's relaxed, sleeping face laying next to her as he curled around her protectively in his slumber, she just blushed and smiled in contentment.

It really didn't matter to her where they were going and for what reason. It didn't matter how many detours they had to take before reaching their final destination and coming back home. As long as she was with Sasuke, she knew everything was going to be alright.


	24. The Old Red Dress

**Title: **The Old Red Dress

**Summary: **Sakura had outgrown her old genin self.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Outgrown  
**Rating:** K  
**Warning(s): **None.  
**Comments: **A bit short, sorry.

* * *

It was Sakura's day off and as she woke up feeling burnt out and without much energy – that last mission with Lee and Tenten has drained her a lot, especially with the insane pace – she realized with dismay that instead of lazing around all day, she would have to do a proper spring cleaning in her apartment. By all means, it wasn't a pigsty, but still Sakura didn't relish in the perspective of all the dusting, hoovering and organizing that needed to be done. Nevertheless, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

By the noon, most of her apartment was decently cleaned and Sakura moved onto her wardrobe. Opening it, she found a tangled mess of various clothes thrown together and mixed into a haphazard pile. She sighed and dumped it all out, intending to segregate them and fold neatly.

As she got to the bottom of the pile, Sakura was surprised to see her old red dress which she had worn when she had been still a genin. Spreading the sturdy, wrinkled material on the bed before her, she lapsed into a flashback. The dress reminded her of the twelve years old, naïve little girl who always had stayed behind, staring at her teammates' backs, depending on them to protect her forever; a girl who had become a kunoichi only to win affections of a boy she had liked.

Sakura glanced at the old Team Seven photo and saw that girl smiling in there in the center. With her own deprecating smile, she turned to the dress and folded it carefully. It would go into the box with her other old genin things, which would then stay forgotten in the attic, gathering dust.

That young girl didn't exist anymore. In her place there was a strong kunoichi – a woman who didn't depend entirely on her teammates, a woman who her comrades could always rely on. A woman whose judgment would never be clouded by her emotions.

And that was what Sakura told herself when she headed to Ichiraku Ramen Bar for a meal with the rest of her team – Naruto, Sai and... Sasuke. When she saw them already waiting, she didn't greet the Uchiha first. She didn't take an empty seat next to him, she didn't glance at him with dreamy eyes, but also she didn't ignore him. When she heard on her way back a few young women gossiping and discussing his good looks with much giggling, she didn't snap at them.

When their team sparred with each other, Sakura didn't cheer for him as he fought Naruto. She also didn't insist on a confrontation with Sasuke, though she didn't shy away when he offered it. He wasn't the one she healed first after the training, though also he wasn't always the last. Her fingers didn't linger on his skin longer than necessary and she didn't give him any special treatment.

They were just teammates, Sakura stressed to herself.

So when they were at Ichiraku's, she didn't think much about it when she felt Sasuke's eyes discreetly observing her from his spot at Naruto's other side and she didn't blush when Sasuke passed her salt and his fingers intentionally brushed her knuckles. She didn't feel flustered when he quietly offered to walk her home, because that was what teammates did, after all, and she didn't feel triumphant when he ignored the flirtatious stares of the gossiping young women who they passed on their way.

And during the sparring, Sakura didn't react to the way Sasuke's eyes zeroed in on her whenever he got the best of his opponent. She turned a blind eye to his extreme caution and precision of his attacks, which were specifically aimed only at non-vital spots, when she was the one to face against him. And certainly she ignored him pointing out his smallest scrapes when it was his turn to be healed after training, just so she would have to touch him longer to get rid of all of them.

Sakura had outgrown that little girl's infatuation, just the same way as she had shed a too small red dress.

And so, the dress was packed in a box in the attic and Sakura only remembered it when she slept. She dreamed about many things. She dreamed about happiness and a gold band on her finger. She dreamed about a family and about another little girl wearing the red dress. A girl in her dreams always had black long hair and dark beautiful eyes and her father's confident smirk.

Sakura dreamed about her perfect future.

But during the day, it was all just a dream and she was the strong kunoichi who had long outgrown her old genin self and her childish feelings.

She thought it was for the best.

* * *

_AN: Thank you to all my dear readers and I hope you enjoyed this short chapter. Unfortunately, I have some bad news – I'm sorry, but the next update will be on Monday (29th July), because I'll be away and unable to write for a few days.  
_


	25. Crash and Crumble

**Title: **Crash and Crumble

**Summary: **Sakura and Sasuke incur the Hokage's wrath.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Locked Up  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Language.  
**Comments: **A mission type fic. Enjoy!

* * *

"Uchiha, Haruno," a menacing growl resounded through the Hokage's office and the two ninjas in question flinched. This tone meant that their superior was royally pissed off. "Just what the hell is this?"

Tsunade slapped a letter on her desk upside down so they could take a look at its contents. What stood out the most on the snow white page was the blood red official seal of the Fire Daimyo's office.

"Shishou, we can explain," Sakura, ever the diplomatic one, tried to calm her master even as she bore an uneasy smile. The key word – tried.

Tsunade gave her a thunderous look which instantly shut Sakura up. She knew not to trifle with her master when she was in that kind of rage. Sakura braced herself for the worst, the cool and collected presence of Sasuke at her side being her greatest support. Of course he would keep his calm, she thought wryly, recalling his previous experiences with murderous Kages, each of them wanting a piece of the criminal Uchiha.

"I especially sent you two on the easiest mission I could find, short of a D-rank. I specifically told you both to take it easy. And now I get this!" Tsunade pointed at the letter, her voice steadily rising in anger. "Just what the hell is so difficult about finding a bunch of small fry yakuzas and locking them up?!"

Sakura scratched the back of her head in embarrassment while Sasuke stayed still in spot, his face a picture of serenity, unmoved by the lecture.

"Eh, shishou... it's complicated..."

"What is complicated? Explain," Tsunade barked and her no-nonsense expression conveyed the unspoken threat of "or else" if the explanation wouldn't be to her satisfaction.

"Well, it was all really just an accident..." Sakura began.

"Don't tell me something like that!" Tsunade cut her off mercilessly, aggravation laced in her words making Sakura wince. "On such a simple mission there's no room for accidents! Both of you aren't still fresh genins but highly skilled apprentices of Sannins!" her temper flared. Sakura tried to put in a word edgewise, however Tsunade wasn't finished. "Uchiha!" she addressed the silent man. "What do you have to say for yourself? I don't believe for a second you didn't have anything to do with this... this..." she looked for a right word to express her incense, "... disaster."

Sasuke slid his gaze to meet the Hokage's sharp one and replied evenly, "It was like Sakura said, just an accident..."

* * *

Tsunade was right, for such high-skilled ninjas like Sakura and Sasuke finding some yakuzas wasn't hard at all. They tracked their targets to Tanzaku Town, the gambling El Dorado of Fire Country. Then things became much more complicated – it was a middle of one of its most famous festivals and so the city was overrun by tourists. The yakuzas couldn't find a better hideout than the great mass of people, especially since they didn't have distinct chakra signatures that would have singled them out instantly to the ninjas sharp senses.

"It's useless," Sakura muttered, discouraged as they looked over the crowd, which only thickened with the night falling over the city, from a rooftop. "There's no way we can find them here. For all we know they could be leaving at this very moment."

Sasuke glanced at her minutely. He couldn't really blame her for the negativity she expressed. Lately, it seemed like Sakura's life was a one streak of misfortune – from broken plates to worse performance on missions, however studying her tired, downtrodden expression he couldn't help but think that the main cause of her stress was overwork. Her perfectionist drive prevented her from achieving better results.

Sasuke inaudibly sighed and jumped off the rooftop, landing noiselessly in a back alley, then headed confidently in direction of the main streets.

"Sasuke-kun? Where are we going?" Sakura asked curiously, joining him a second later.

"We're going to get a drink," he replied, pointing at the nearest open bar, loud music booming from its entrance as people milled around it. Sakura's sharp eyes didn't miss a few shady characters observing it. She scowled. More yakuzas.

"You know it's against Shinobi rules?" she reminded him.

"Not when it's for the sake of the mission," Sasuke countered, smirking.

His plan worked out splendidly – Sakura loosened up after a few drinks and he would have even enjoyed himself if not for annoying men who constantly eyed his teammate appreciatively and tried to approach her. Most of them were scared away by his menacing glares, but the more inebriated ones he had to knock out discreetly, which wasn't much of a problem due to the crowd masking his movements. Still, it was getting on his nerves.

"So, what about the mission? Did you come up with something?" Sakura asked, her mood definitely improved as she sipped from her sake dish. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes glimmered from the alcohol. Sasuke found that look on her strangely appealing.

In answer to her question, he nodded. "Yes, I did. We're going to ask around." He looked to her right and she turned around to see what it was.

Sakura caught the sight of a burly man with a dragon tattoo coiled around his bulging bicep and a look of understanding appeared on her face as she grinned wickedly.

"I see..." After all, who better to ask about a missing yakuza than another yakuza?

They cornered the man in a tiny hallway leading to the bathroom.

"Where the hell are these two guys?!" Sakura shoved the photos of their targets right under the man's nose. "Tell us or I'll skin you alive!"

"I'm not scared of you, girlie! And I don't even know these punks, for fuck's sake!" he sneered at her, unafraid of her small stature. Pink hair also didn't add much to the fright factor.

A shiiiing of a very sharp sword being unsheathed diverted his attention from Sakura and he blanched as the blade was pressed against his throat.

"I suggest you answer the question, scum," Sasuke said calmly, but the threatening undertone was unmistakeable.

The man's shit-scared expression was so funny, Sakura couldn't hold in a maniacal guffaw at the sight.

He didn't have much information and the only useful thing they gleaned was a rumour about catacombs beneath the newly rebuilt castle in Tanzaku (the old one had been destroyed several years earlier by Orochimaru). It was said that they were under control of the yakuza family their targets were affiliated with. How much of it was true – it was unknown.

To justify the ninjas' actions, they were inebriated and never did they claim to be patient people. That is why, in the middle of the night, Sakura and Sasuke broke into the castle and avoiding all the traps and other security measures only thanks to their exceptional ninjas skills, they entered the catacombs through a forgotten trapdoor in the basement.

The rumour was true – there were yakuzas hiding out deep underground, thinking themselves untouchable. The fight with them however proved to be pretty much one-sided as the ninjas easily took out anyone they came across in ambushes. Finally, they found their targets.

Unfortunately, the yakuzas had enough sense to hire two rogue Iwa-nins for protection. Very aggravating Iwa-nins on top of that.

"Hey, pinky, just what are you trying to do?" the blond one jeered at Sakura as he evaded her punches unscathed. "Are you playing ninja? This isn't a place for you. You should stop this foolishness and go home. Cook a dinner for your husband like a proper woman!"

The man countered Sakura's moves with his own well-practiced taijutsu. It seemed like it was his strength which he was immensely proud of.

Sakura glowered at him and pulled her black gloves tighter. "What did you say?"

"You're not only stupid but also deaf? Go home little girl and leave fighting to men!" The man repeated himself condescendingly.

"I'm going to crush you!" Sakura yelled in rage and shot off at him with her fist cocked and glowing with chakra.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was in the middle of a fight with the other Iwa-nin.

"Hey, don't be so rash, let's talk first," the tall man suggested lackadaisically as he avoided Sasuke's deadly swordplay with some effort. "They don't pay us that much, if you give us more money, we won't stand in your way anymore."

Sasuke performed a combination of speedy strikes instead of a verbal response.

"It's okay if you don't have money," the Iwa-nin continued his negotiations. "Actually, I'd prefer another method of payment. Want to know what it is?"

Sasuke paused his attack in spite of himself. There was something unsettling in his opponent's grin, something which he really didn't like. The Iwa-nin took the silence as his cue.

"If you give us that woman over there for a night, then we'll gladly back off and let you capture these yakuzas. No one needs to get hurt that way. How does that sound?"

Sasuke saw red as boiling hot rage surged through him, his Sharingan spinning madly. Without thinking, he performed Chidori and sprang at his opponent.

The combined force of Sakura's and Sasuke's devastating attacks shook the foundations of the Tanzaku castle and an ear-splitting boom resounded throughout the city and the neighbouring villages as the newly restored building crumbled in a massive cave-in, utterly destroyed for a second time in a decade.

* * *

"You two imbeciles took down the castle in Tanzaku Town! How is that a freaking accident?!" Tsunade raged at her two ninjas.

"Maybe you should look ay the bright side, shishou. We got the yakuzas and most of their affiliates along with two B-rank missing-nins. They had a hefty sum for a bounty," Sakura pointed out, hoping this time her reasoning would calm the Hokage down.

No such luck.

"What good does it do when all the money and then some is going to Konoha's reimbursement for the damages done by you two!" Tsunade exclaimed in aggravation then groaned. "And I've just got a minor prize in a lottery... Just... get out of my sight for now... I'll think of your punishment later," she finally waved them out of her office.

Upon their exit, Sakura turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, thanks for sticking up for me in there," she said gratefully. "You didn't have to take the blame. It was entirely my fault that the castle collapsed. You shouldn't have to be punished too."

Sasuke regarded her with an unreadable look, but there was something dangerous lurking in his gaze that made her a tad uncomfortable. What was he thinking?

"It's fine, Sakura. We are a team and I had a part in causing the damages," he responded evenly. "Though if you want to make it up to me, we can just go out for drinks this evening."

Sakura blushed and gaped at Sasuke, stunned by this offer coming from him of all people. Seeing his expectant look, she furiously nodded, still unable to find her voice.

Casting a full smirk her way, Sasuke turned and sauntered away, leaving a dazed Sakura in his wake.

All's well that ends well, Sakura supposed as she snapped out of her trance in a few minutes and headed hurriedly to her apartment, a big smile on her face even as she tried to recall where she left her red heels. She needed to prepare for the evening with Sasuke.

* * *

_AN: After a slight delay, I'm back with the next chapter. Hope you liked it!_


	26. Storm in Your Eyes

**Title: **Storm in Your Eyes

**Summary: **The hot weather in Konoha affects Sakura and Sasuke.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Electricity  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Hotness (I hope).  
**Comments: **None.

* * *

The heatwave in Konoha was unbearable this year. The streets were mostly deserted as the inhabitants of the ninja village kept to the places where they could find some relief from the high temperature – shadowed areas or anywhere near the water. The Nakano river's beach was a particularly sought after spot. The small number of those who possessed air conditioning were the object of common envy.

Unfortunately for Sakura, she belonged to the category of the envious. The medic was laying on her couch in lethargy, trying to get through the hottest part of the day by not exerting herself with unnecessary movement. Already her small tube top and white shorts became slightly damp from her sweat in the places that were in direct contact with the furniture even though she had taken a lukewarm shower (in this weather, cold water was impossible to come by) just fifteen minutes ago!

Sakura sighed and fanned herself feebly with a magazine though it didn't bring her much relief. All the windows and doors in her apartment were open in hope of catching the slightest breeze wafting through however the air wasn't moving at all. It seemed so heavy and constricting that just breathing it in turned out laborious.

The kunoichi got up slowly, feeling overheated from simply laying on the couch and stepped to the window, looking out. The brightness outside blinded her for a second and when her vision got used to it she saw that the skies were too clear, wiped from any rainclouds, leaving only the pristine azure blue.

_In times like this, I really hate summer_, Sakura thought with a frown.

If she had looked in the opposite direction, she would have seen the black mass of storm clouds rapidly approaching Konoha from the south. However, she didn't even think about going to the other window as her attention was captured by the slim figure of a ninja, clad almost entirely in black and hopping the rooftops, heading for the training grounds.

Sakura's frown deepened when she instantly recognized the person – Uchiha Sasuke, her finally returned teammate and, apparently, the stupidest man she knew. If she ever wondered just what kind of an idiot would go train in such a sweltering weather and risk a heat stroke, now she had her answer. Biting her lip in annoyance, she pivoted on her heel and went to the kitchen.

As she opened the fridge, the wave of pleasant coolness from it brought a smile on her face. Sakura quickly plucked two chilled water bottles and closed the door. Quickly finding a small bag to put the drinks in, she donned comfortable summer sandals and jumped out of the window. She hissed at the heated roof tiles she landed on, which made her think for a moment that she was standing on a furnace, then she sped off towards the training grounds.

As a medic, it was her duty to look after her teammates' health. Even if it meant punching them out to stop them from risking it in the most idiotic ways.

An hour later, Sakura had half a mind to call it quits and leave Sasuke to die out in the heat. He wasn't in the usual training grounds of their team and so she was forced to comb through other ones, getting more and more sweaty and frustrated as she couldn't find him anywhere. Wiping her forehead from perspiration, she took a leisure sip from her water bottle and scrunched her brows at seeing it already empty. She flattened the plastic in her palm and put it back in her bag.

Unable to stay in the sun any longer, Sakura went into the forest which provided a reprieve in its shadows. She rested for a bit and fell into thought.

She had tried not to have any expectations after Sasuke had come back to Konoha but she would have never thought that he would become the most aggravating of her teammates. He retained many of his old characteristics – didn't talk much, was work-oriented, prideful, perfectionistic, highly competitive – but when it came to his relationship with her, he behaved much differently than he had used to. While previously he hadn't paid her much attention, now he always had her in his sights, sometimes in a very unnerving, intense way. On top of that, he oscillated between being almost friendly with her and distancing himself abruptly as he turned cold and aloof. Sometimes she just wanted to walk up to him and demand an explanation, possibly smack him to encourage the answer out of him, but she refrained from doing anything of the sort. She was sure that when Sasuke was ready he would finally tell her what was his problem, though she would greatly prefer if he did it sooner rather than later.

The sudden wind picking up and a wet plop hitting her arm coldly shook her out of the reverie. Sakura gazed at the sky in surprise and noticed the dark churning clouds covering its expanse. A distant rumble of a thunder made her jump to her feet.

Sakura darted through the forest straight to Konoha, taking a shortcut. She didn't want to be caught outside in a storm, especially when it was sure to be a big one. However, she didn't manage to avoid the downpour as it started barely a minute after she felt that first small drop. Almost instantly she was soaked to the bone. Tucking some of her wet hair behind her ears irritably, Sakura ran determined to get back before the storm would hit with its full strength.

Feeling a familiar chakra, she gasped as she came upon the one she had been trying to find for so long. Sasuke was standing calmly among the trees, his shirt discarded and Sakura couldn't stop her curious eyes from wandering to his pale skin, pulled taut on the muscles underneath and ridden with various scars. His more than appetizing upper body was glistening from wetness as the cold rain pelted him mercilessly.

"Sasuke-kun?"

His eyes opened sharply at hearing her speak his name and Sakura realized she interrupted his meditation. The dark eyes took in her presence before him and Sakura suddenly shivered with self-consciousness, crossing her arms in front of her chest to hide how her drenched tube top was clinging to her chilled skin, revealing way too much than she was comfortable with.

"Sakura. What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, his voice seeming deeper than usual, making her shiver from something other than just coldness. Nevertheless, she felt compelled to answer.

"I was looking for you. What are _you_ doing here? Don't tell me you plan to train in this kind of weather."

His confident smirk wasn't much of a surprise to her, unlike the words that followed it. "Actually, it's a perfect weather for my type of training."

Sakura raised her eyebrow questioningly. A very close roar of a thunder caused her to jolt reflexively, betraying her uneasiness. She valiantly suppressed the embarrassed blush from spreading across her cheeks when she noticed Sasuke's amused gaze.

"What type of training do you have in mind?" she asked hastily, wanting to shift his attention away from her fear.

"It's a for a lightning technique I developed a while ago... to fulfill my revenge." What he really meant – _to kill Itachi_ – went unspoken but Sakura still understood. "I named it Kirin."

"Kirin?" Sakura repeated to herself. "Like in the myths..."

Sasuke, having heard her, nodded.

"Can I see it?" she made a hesitant request. Ninjas usually kept their techniques secret and even though she was Sasuke's teammate, Kirin seemed too significant to just share it with others, especially since he had developed it solely for killing his brother.

She was truly taken aback but also honoured when he agreed for her to watch.

"It won't be at full strength, I'll just be working on making it faster," Sasuke warned her.

Sakura settled a short distance away from him, momentarily forgetting about the cold, intense rain as she watched in fascination Sasuke concentrating. A lightning chakra surrounded his palm and it seemed as though it splintered and reached the clouds overhead. Then, to Sakura's astonishment, something like a dragon made of lightning emerged from the black billowing mass above. Sasuke pointed at the highest tree in sight and with a shout released the technique.

Sakura's body shuddered involuntarily as Kirin struck the exact place its master had shown, the force of it shaking the ground around.. The tree was split in two and charred on the inside. The kunoichi tried to imagine what would happen if it was a person and felt a bit queasy. She couldn't imagine any way short of Gaara's sand defense or Sasuke's own Susano'o that could stop such a destructive technique.

Her eyes wandered back to Sasuke in awe. With his palm once again raised and preparing the next shot, he looked like a being from another plane, the god of storm with lightning bolts as his weapons of choice, powerful and fearsome. She regarded him with awe and admiration and he must have felt something in her gaze, because he stopped his technique and looked at her curiously.

Their eyes met and Sakura felt like she was captured by his dark, smoldering eyes. Her throat constricted and her pulse pounded in her ears as Sasuke strode over to her. Her lips opened a little to let out a small gasp when he stood just a hairbreadth away from her, his closeness suddenly unbearable to her frenzied nerves.

His hand gently laid on her forehead and she couldn't stop a shiver of delight. When he took his palm away, she almost whimpered at the loss of contact.

"Sakura..." he said thickly and her eyes flickered to his lips with uncontrollable yearning, yet she didn't move from her spot.

He took a hold of her chin and she raised her gaze to his again. Her mouth dried at the intense, scrutinizing look he was giving her.

In his eyes she saw the second sky – the malevolent black thunder clouds swirling and rolling agitatedly with unspoken emotions, the fleeting electric bolts striking straight at her palpitating heart. Was he torturing her on purpose?

She tried to step away and catch a breath but his other hand clasped on her shoulder, immobilizing her. Her own palms pressed flat on his naked, sculpted chest in a feeble attempt to push him away.

His eyes flashed at her dangerously and she swallowed.

"Sasuke-kun..." she choked out, her tongue wetting her lips.

What happened next was a blur.

Sakura didn't know who lost it first but it didn't really matter – their lips tangled and clashed with each other furiously, robbing them both of breath with the powerful sparks of pleasure at the intimate contact. Her hands clutched at the black wet locks at the back of his head, keeping him in place as he ravaged her mouth, his palm holding and caressing her nape sending hot tingles down her spine where his other arm encircled her waist possessively.

Somewhere along the way, Sakura was backed against a tree as Sasuke's kisses grew more insistent, however she wasn't about to surrender all the initiative to him. In a surprising move, she turned them around, Sasuke's back thudding against the tree as she devoured his mouth in her passion, her fingers deftly sliding down and taking pleasure in tracing his defined shoulders and torso.

With a gasp they parted and Sakura nipped at his jaw and lower, unwilling to stop touching his skin with her lips. Sasuke's deep groan reverberated through her increasing her need.

She whimpered helplessly when he pressed her flush to him, their chests plastered to each other. He gently combed through her drenched dark pink locks as he took a large gulp of breath, trying to compose himself.

"We... need to go," Sasuke's voice was strained. "You'll catch a cold if we stay out any longer."

Sakura impulsively licked a drop of rain from his throat and his arms noticeably tightened around her, causing more delicious pressure between them.

"Sasuke-kun..." she whispered needily, unable to form the right words to express what she wanted, her hot breath doing unspeakable things to him.

In a flash, they were away, speeding back to Konoha, Sakura carried securely in Sasuke's arms. His apartment was the closest.

The storm had long passed and the skies were clear again when they exited it the next afternoon.


	27. The Unusual Therapy

**Title:** The Unusual Therapy

**Summary: **Sasuke doesn't write about his feelings.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Diary/Journal  
**Rating:** K  
**Warning(s): **None.  
**Comments: **None.

* * *

It was a nice, warm day in Konoha and once again Sasuke was wasting it away, stuck on the red bridge, the usual meeting spot of Team Kakashi, and waiting on his teammates. Of course, he's been there half an hour early, so he didn't have much reason to complain. Both Naruto and Sakura were quite busy ninjas, what with his training to become Hokage and her responsibilities in leading the hospital, therefore from time to time it happened that they were late, though thankfully never as much as Kakashi.

Alone for a moment now, Sasuke fiddled with a small, black notebook, a scowl placed firmly on his face as he regarded the item with loathing. The sunlight reflected off the golden letters etched in the front cover, which read "My Journal". Sasuke snapped the notebook open to the first page and stared hard at the utter blankness presented there.

If he wanted it or not, Sasuke was obligated to make entries in his journal, maybe not daily, but at least a few times a week. Also, they couldn't be simple notes from the everyday life – they had to be focused on his feelings and inner thoughts. In other words, things that Sasuke would rather forget all about and never discuss.

Sasuke eyed the notebook with distaste, recalling how he had come to obtain it. After the war, as one of the conditions for allowing him back to Konoha and its shinobi ranks, he had agreed to attend therapy sessions with a renowned ninja psychologist from the Yamanaka clan. Good five months had passed since that deal before the appointments even commenced and, understandably, they weren't really getting anywhere due to Sasuke's extreme uncommunicativeness. Hence, the idea for him to write down his issues in the journal and work them out, which in theory would prepare him for broaching the subject with another person.

_If you can't talk to yourself about your problems, how can you tell someone else about them?,_ the therapist had said but the main problem was that Sasuke didn't want to even acknowledge these things, not to mention actually talking about them.

"What do you have there, Ducky-kun?"

Sasuke's frown deepened as he turned to the newest member of the team – Sai. Although working with the ex-Root agent wasn't bothersome, the guy still got on Uchiha's bad side easily, especially since giving him that ridiculous nickname.

Sai reacted to the frown with a guileless smile.

"Nothing," Sasuke replied briskly, not in the mood to talk.

"Looks like my sketchbook," Sai observed and took a black covered small book out from his pocket. "Though you don't seem like a painting type, Ducky-kun."

Noticing a startling similarity in their notebooks, Sasuke against himself became intrigued.

"A sketchbook?" he asked cautiously, masking his interest.

"Ah yes," Sai opened it and showed his drawings to his teammate. "I draw a picture on a page everyday. At first, it was my only way to express emotions which I didn't understand. Also, it helped me to connect with my brother."

Sasuke gave Sai a curious look, the explanation striking a chord within him.

"When my brother died I made a picture book with intention to illustrate our bond. When he saw it during the war, his soul could finally rest in peace," Sai smiled at the memory of seeing his brother for the last time. "Now, I'm drawing in a new sketchbook."

"What do you draw, exactly?" Sasuke asked.

"Mostly, I just concentrate on some feeling and draw what comes to mind. For example, when I was thinking about friendship, I drew our team."

Sasuke nodded as it all made perfect sense to him. It could be a way for him to get out of writing about his feelings in the damn journal. Just drawing them should be a lot easier...

Decisively, he opened the journal gain on the first page and poised a pen over it. What feeling should he think about first? Sasuke closed his eyes in thought, then snapped them open and wrote on top of the page "Happiness". He didn't want to stress himself out with negativity before team meeting, it would cause too many probing and unnecessary questions from his observant teammates.

His pen moved over the page as he submerged himself in a kind of a trance, concentrating only on the ever elusive happiness that he felt so rarely. Drawing shapes and shading, he filled the page with a black and white image, not noticing that his Sharingan activated to aid with the perfect memory it granted. At that moment nothing existed – just him and the feeling as his hand flew over the canvas of the journal to complete the drawing.

Upon finishing his work, Sasuke clicked the pen off and closed the notebook without looking at what he drew so diligently. He wasn't really interested. Whatever it was, it was primarily an excuse to not write anything of substance while getting his therapist out of his hair.

Over the course of the next few days, Sasuke drew more emotions in his journal, never looking back at his previous "art". He found out that he actually preferred this way of communicating his feelings as it felt like he wasn't really giving anything away.

Even though Sasuke was indifferent to what he drew, there were other, noisy people who wanted very much to know. Mainly Naruto, as could be expected.

"Hey, Sasuke, what do you have there?" his teammate blurted out when they were waiting together for the rest of the team to show up for training.

Sasuke, who has been looking intently at the newest blank page, shrugged.

"A notebook. My therapist ordered me to write in it," he explained disinterestedly, hoping Naruto wouldn't make a big deal out of it.

As if.

"And you do? You write in it?" the blond chuckled disbelievingly.

"I'm not."

"But you always carry it around," Naruto pointed out.

Sasuke let out a long-suffering sigh. "So what?"

"It means you are using it!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. "Let me see it!"

"No way, dobe," Sasuke objected with a measure of irritation. It was too private to share with someone, especially his loudmouthed best friend.

"Then if I beat you in a spar, you'll show it to me!" Naruto issued the challenge, undeterred.

Sasuke scoffed. "As if you could."

He really should have known better than to agree with such a deal, knowing just how powerful his friend was now, as opposed to his old genin self. However, the Uchiha pride would never let Sasuke back away from his rival.

Most of the fight the two were evenly matched. Then, to Sasuke's chagrin, Naruto just had to tip the scales in his favour and with another of his totally unpredictable moves secure a victory.

The blond jumped up in excitement and pumped his fist triumphantly. "I won, teme! You can't beat me, haha!"

Sasuke scowled and got up from the ground grumpily, dusting himself off.

"Now, show me your journal! Like we agreed!" Naruto thrust out his hand demandingly.

Sasuke debated going back on his word but in the end reluctantly took it out and tossed to his friend who snatched it from the air in a manner similar to a dog catching a stick. Naruto laughed gleefully and cracked the small notebook open.

"What the..." he mumbled, his eyes widening comically as he turned to the next page and the next until he got to the last entry. Then he shot an astonished stare at Sasuke, who gave him a quizzical look, and burst out laughing. The Uchiha gnashed his teeth in annoyance and a little worry. Were his drawings that bad?

Their other teammates paused the sparring to see what happened to make Naruto guffaw like a demented hyena.

"Hmm? What is it, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, what's so funny?" Sakura added, not understanding where Naruto's mirth came from.

The blond showed them the small book. "I-it's Sasuke-teme's... ha ha, heheh... journal," he wheezed out between snickers.

"Dobe, you better give it back right now," Sasuke growled threateningly but it was too late. Naruto tossed the journal to Kakashi who looked through its contents silently then gave his trademark one-eyed smile to the fuming Uchiha.

"I see..." he commented enigmatically, frustrating Sasuke even more with the vagueness.

"What is it?" Sakura asked curiously and not waiting for a reply, whisked the journal from their teacher's hands to take a look herself.

Sasuke anxiously watched her reactions. Her green eyes widened and her mouth formed a small "o", expressing her utter bafflement. As she glanced at him, her face was covered with a fierce blush and she averted her eyes. Now he didn't really understand what was the matter with them. Just what did he draw in the damn journal that made everyone act so strange?

The last one to peek at the notebook was Sai, the one who actually planted in Sasuke's mind the idea to draw in the first place. The artist eyed the images with a raised brow and a polite smile. Finally, he stepped up to Sasuke to hand him back the journal.

"You seem to have a measure of talent, Ducky-kun," Sai complimented pleasantly, surprising the Uchiha, even if the nickname still irritated him. "Although, I don't really understand why would you waste it on drawing someone as ugly as Hag on every single page."

Sasuke stared numbly at him, shocked by this revelation, then quickly snapped the journal open and checked if Sai wasn't joking.

He wasn't.

From every page, Sakura was looking at him – smiling, laughing, crying, worrying – displaying a myriad of emotions. And every black and white image was a perfect photographic copy of her he had imprinted in his memory.

Sasuke's shocked eyes raised from the journal and met Sakura's green embarrassed but hopeful stare. Naruto laughed again.

"Man, teme, you do have it bad!" the blond teased good-naturedly.

A feeling of heat on his face made Sasuke realize that for the first time in forever he, Uchiha Sasuke, blushed and because of a girl, no less.

Damn that stupid journal.


	28. The Evening in the Cinema

**Title:** The Evening in the Cinema

**Summary: **Genin Sakura watches a movie with her teammates.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** At the Movies  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Genin era.  
**Comments: **None.

* * *

_Drat. And I really wanted to watch that movie. Kakashi-sensei is so unfair!_, young genin Sakura thought unhappily, pouting, as she headed to the dumpster, lugging behind her two large trash bags filled with empty popcorn cartons and soda bottles. When their sensei had shown up just half an hour late at the bridge and had said that they were going to a cinema, she certainly hadn't expected that she would be doing this!

Sakura sighed as she deposited the trash in its place and trudged back inside. What she wanted to be a fun day with her team at the movies, turned out to be another D-rank mission. The cinema workers were ill with a severe case of flu and so the ninja were hired to take over their duties for a while. This day, that particular mission was entrusted to Team Seven and so, instead of watching a romantic movie with Sasuke like she would have liked, Sakura was forced to work, cleaning, taking out trash and selling tickets.

The girl entered the cinema from the back entrance and walked at a crawling pace to the front, preparing to man the cashier's booth again. However, she spotted their client, the cinema's manager with her two teammates. Naruto waved and called to her to come over, so quickening her pace she took a place besides the boys, surreptitiously standing closer to Sasuke. He looked rather tired and annoyed, she noticed right away, guessing that it must be the low rank of the mission that was mostly getting to him.

"You three, well done!" their client announced happily. "I'm very glad the Hokage sent you to help out, you worked hard! If you ever want to change careers, don't hesitate to ask me for a permanent post here!" he winked at them jokingly.

Naruto erupted into a burst of preening and proclaiming just how great of a ninja he was and no thanks, he would never stop being ninja because he was going to become the Hokage, dattebayo, while Sakura smiled and thanked the manager politely. Sasuke just turned his face away and snorted, because as if he would ever work in the cinema of his own volition. Finally, the man clapped his hands three times to halt the ruckus they caused.

"Haha, alright, you three! What I really called you here for is to tell you that you get a reward for your hard work and dedication!"

Of course, this declaration made Naruto bounce on his feet in excitement and ask insistently what it was. Sakura also wondered what they would get. Unsurprisingly, Sasuke kept silent, though she could swear she saw a glimmer of curiosity in his eyes.

The client procured three tickets from his pocket. "With these you can watch the last film today for free!" he handed them the small paper rectangles. "It's a horror, but I heard that nowadays the youth really likes them, so it's no problem?"

Naruto jumped to exclaim his courage and how no scary film would be enough to scare him. Sakura just once again thanked the man, even though inwardly she cringed at the thought of watching a horror movie. On the other hand, she could use her fright as an excuse to hold Sasuke's hand... She perked up, her mood raised thanks to the pleasant daydream her imagination conjured. In the dark, Sasuke and her alone, holding hands... maybe he would even let her cower in his arms at the more scary parts of the movie...

So, the three genin bowed to their employer in gratitude and headed together from the lobby to the theatre. They slipped into the darkened room quietly. There were plenty of seats to choose from, as there were only a few other people this late in the evening. When Sasuke immediately strode to the back rows, Sakura followed after him and Naruto had no choice but to go with them as well, not wanting to be left behind, though they could hear his grumbling about why teme was the one to choose where they should sit. Finally, they all settled in the middle of the last row, Sakura between the boys, and they were just in time, because the film started.

The story was about a family moving into a haunted house in a small village in the mountains. Every month, someone from there disappeared with no trace and the atmosphere of fright was brought up even more by the strange sightings in the forest surrounding the settlement.

Sakura admitted that she was a little bit scared, but not that much, Glancing at her teammates, she saw that Sasuke was calmly watching and rather unimpressed, while Naruto shook in his boots at the more frightening parts, edging closer to her until he was almost leaning on her shoulder, causing her to in turn press her own side against Sasuke's arm in effort to maintain some distance between herself and Naruto. Thankfully, Sasuke didn't react to her and just allowed her to stay there.

"Naruto, get away from me," she whispered to the blond harshly.

"B-but, Sakura-chaan..." he whined and didn't budge, clinging to her.

Halfway through the movie, he couldn't stand it any longer and stood up. "I'm going to take a leak. Be back in a sec!" he informed them and scurried to the exit.

Sasuke snorted, but didn't comment. Sakura shared his amusement at Naruto's antics, though it didn't last long when she realized that her daydream was coming true since she was left alone with Sasuke, in the darkness and still pressed to his arm. She blushed a little, looking at the place they were in contact, then glanced at his handsome profile admiringly.

Loud screams and shrieks boomed out of the speakers, making her whip her head to the front in alarm and look at the screen. The film entered its most gory part, featuring a massacre of the village. Sakura covered her mouth in disgust and shock at the scenes of a visceral carnage and close-ups of the camera on the mangled, mutilated bodies and fountains of blood. A nausea rose in her stomach and the girl closed her eyes to fight the feeling down.

The trembling against her side distracted her from the queasiness and Sakura cracked her eyelids open cautiously and peeked at her teammate. Sasuke was breathing raggedly, as if he was barely keeping in his own screams, his brow moist with sweat. Sakura leaned closer to him and saw that he wasn't even watching the film anymore, as instead he was trapped in his own inner horror. His lips moved mutely and she read from them that he was calling his parents over and over.

A strangled whimper emerged from Sasuke's throat and Sakura woke up from her befuddlement. She needed to bring him back to reality before he sank to deep into the nightmare. Without hesitation, she squeezed his right hand in her own and leaned to his face, boldly touching his cheek.

"Sasuke-kun, it's okay... I'm here, Sasuke-kun... It's not real..." she murmured to him, hoping her gentle touch and voice would be enough to snap him out of it.

"S-Sakura...?" he whispered and his eyes slowly got back into focus, still a little vulnerable.

She smiled tremblingly, trying not to tear up. Sasuke didn't need her crying for him right now.

"Are you alright, Sasuke-kun?" she asked concernedly.

"I'm... fine," he replied as he recalled where they were and what they were doing there.

"That's good," she said with relief audible in her voice. "Do you want to go or watch the movie to the end?"

His eyes flickered with uncertainty and she realized her question caused him an internal debacle – he wanted to leave this place after his episode but his pride wouldn't allow him to just chicken out because of a stupid horror film.

"Actually, I'd rather go already," Sakura added hastily, which wasn't false – she disliked this kind of movies, now even more. "It's late and we need to wake up early for tomorrow's mission. Kakashi-sensei promised us a C-rank so we need to get our rest, right?"

Sasuke nodded at her reasoning and they both got up and left the theatre. Outside, they found Naruto loitering in the lobby and eating some popcorn.

"Did it already end?" he asked them, tilting his head in confusion. A sly grin appeared on his face. "Don't tell me you got scared, Sasuke-teme?"

Sasuke glared darkly but Sakura moved in between them before they started a fight.

"I was tired and we have a mission early tomorrow, Naruto," she reminded him.

"Oh, yeah, the mission! You always remember everything, Sakura-chan!" the blond began an excited rant about how he would ace their next assignment as they went out of the building.

When they reached a place where they had to part to go to their respective homes each, they stopped for a second.

"Hey, today was fun, don't you think?" Naruto remarked suddenly.

"Oh really? Even though you were so scared of the movie, you ran away?" Sakura teased.

"I wasn't scared at all!" the blond huffed in denial. "Besides, it was a lame horror."

"Sure, sure," the kunoichi giggled and even Sasuke smiled a little.

"I'm telling the truth! I wasn't scared, not at all! I'm a future Hokage, I don't get scared!"

"Yeah, yeah, goodnight, Naruto," Sakura waved at him, already walking off.

"Hn. Dobe," Sasuke grunted, also amused a bit.

All in all, their day didn't end that bad, even if all of them saw more of a horror than they would wish to.


	29. Whose Girlfriend?

**Title:** Whose Girlfriend?

**Summary: **Sakura and Sasuke bring back the ninja kind of souvenirs from the war.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Souvenirs  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **None.  
**Comments: **I couldn't think up anything else. Hope you like it!

* * *

Ninjas don't travel for pleasure. They don't leave their villages just to go somewhere else and sightsee, so then they could return, relaxed and all smiles, to show their family and friends photos from the beach and other tourist spots.

No, ninjas travel as a part of their job. They are messengers, scouts, peace-keepers, bodyguards and everything in between. They are tools, they are weapons – they don't leave on the excursions away without a purpose, without orders, without permission. Otherwise, they would be no better than rogues.

But Sasuke was a missing-nin. The same rules didn't apply to him. He wasn't bound by a village anymore, Sakura mused as she was healing Naruto after the final battle and the blond jokingly said that they all deserved a vacation. However, she couldn't imagine Sasuke going somewhere just for pleasure, without any ulterior motive, like thirst for power or vengeance. He sure hadn't gone to the Sound just to take in the sights, she ironized. The meaning of ninja was too ingrained into him and he was nothing but dutiful to his cause, whatever it may be at the moment.

Ninjas travel light and are taught to not get attached to meaningless trinkets and baubles. Material possessions can all be discarded by them if the mission requires that. The only things truly necessary are the clothes on their backs and their weapons. But that doesn't mean they don't bring anything back with them. The memories, experiences – they would always stay in their minds. And on their bodies, these would be represented by the wounds and scars – healed but unforgettable.

Sakura finished healing Naruto who got up with more energy than he should have after the most draining battle of his life.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan!" he grinned and she smiled back.

"Maybe you could finally introduce us, Naruto," a voice suddenly coming from behind made the blond jump, startled.

"Dad?! You're still here?" Naruto gawked at the Fourth Hokage, who smiled sheepishly.

"My soul still isn't at rest, so I suppose I'll hang around for a while longer," he explained.

"That's great!"

"So, mind introducing me to your girlfriend?"

"Sure!"

Unknown to the three conversing ninjas, Uchiha Sasuke was observing them within an earshot and heard everything, especially the lack of denial on Sakura's part to being called Naruto's girlfriend. Already healed by Karin from his injuries, none of which had been life-threatening, he was still too exhausted to activate the Sharingan, however his black eyes glaring at the three expressed his inner turmoil more than adequately. While he was glad to see his old teammates alive and relatively unharmed, the rising sense of betrayal rose in him indignantly, causing his fists to clench in silent fury when Naruto took Sakura's hand in his for some reason.

Drunken with the victory, overwhelmed by the powerful emotions, Sasuke didn't think much – he just acted.

"Dobe," he said icily, interrupting their cheerful introductions.

"Sasuke-teme, you're here!" Naruto exclaimed happily, but sobered up as he spotted the murderous look on his best friend's face.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" Sasuke growled menacingly.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Naruto asked, then caught just what Sasuke was looking at with so much scorn. A realization made his prankster nature to take over. "Hey, teme, you should say proper hello to Sakura-chan. You know, _my girlfriend_."

"Naruto, you idiot, what are you saying..." Sakura started irritatedly, but Sasuke didn't hear it through the angry pounding of his pulse.

He reached down and yanked her hand out of Naruto's grasp, rendering her silent for a moment, then turned her by her shoulders to face him.

"Sasuke-kun, what..."

But he cut her off with an aggressive kiss, his hand at the back of her head keeping her in place as he angled his face to hers to possess her more thoroughly. A gasp followed by a choked moan involuntarily left her and was swallowed by his inexperienced but quickly learning lips.

The kiss ended all too soon in his opinion due to his urge to breathe. Before Sakura regained her bearings, he swooped down again with even more determination to brand her with his mouth as his and only his. He nibbled on her lower lip and when she didn't open, bit down, drawing a few droplets of blood which he licked off with a gentle swipe of his tongue. Then he slid it boldly inside, tasting her flavour deeply. She moaned throatily and her own tongue shyly met his.

Once again, only the risk of suffocating (and what a nice kind of death it would be) caused Sasuke to part from the kunoichi. This time, he looked at shell-shocked Naruto with a victorious smirk.

"Sakura would never be your girlfriend, dobe. She's mine," he announced as if he was stating that the sun was yellow and the sky was blue.

But it wasn't Naruto who gave him a reply.

"You... teme... How dare you?!" a shriek of feminine fury was the only warning Sasuke got before Sakura socked him in the jaw. With a chakra-infused fist.

From the final battle of the Fourth Shinobi War both Sakura and Sasuke brought back a souvenir. She – a bite on her lower lip. He – a cracked jaw and large purple bruises on his face and back, the latter from painful landing on hard rocks after the punch he received.

In the end, such souvenirs were worth a little pain, they surmised a few months later, when they recalled their first kiss as they lounged together on a couch. After all, without that first step, they would have probably floundered around each other forever.

The young couple shared a loving kiss, knowing there would be many, many more to come...


	30. Ocean of Eternity

**Title:** Ocean of Eternity

**Summary: **Of hoping, waiting and walking.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Losing Hope  
**Rating:** T  
**Warning(s): **Sad.  
**Comments: **None.

* * *

Sakura was bend over, struggling with every breath, beaten, bruised and dead tired – yet her delicate small hands rested on a wound of her comrade unfaltering, healing him as efficiently as possible. She didn't even know this person's name – from his looks she guessed he hailed from Kiri – but that was the new, the way of the Shinobi Alliance. They were all comrades, brothers in arms against the terror of Uchiha Madara and the Juubi.

The battle raged all around her. It was chaos, it was a force of nature – it was the epitome of war. And Sakura could only do what she was trained to do until it became a reflex – dodging and attacking to stall her enemies, to buy herself the time to heal her injured allies, all the while worrying about her teammates and praying that they were alright and that she could be there in time to save them.

Then, Madara fell.

The beast roared in rage at its master's defeat and charged an enormous destructive ball of chakra that would decimate half of the Shinobi army and with numbing dread Sakura realized that she was too close to it. She was in range of that attack and there was no way for her to get away before the blast hit.

Sakura saw Naruto and Killer Bee charge at the beast in order to stop it for a precious moment which would allow those in the danger zone to evacuate to safety.

In a whirl of movement she was grabbed and she didn't even got a second to yell out in surprise as she was shunshined away. Sakura only managed to catch a glimpse of the black spiky hair on the back of her rescuer's head as he shot right back into the fray, heading for Naruto to aid him.

The purple-black ball of malicious energy was unleashed at that moment and even though it was slowed down by a similar attack from the remaining two Jinchuuriki, it still slammed into the ground and exploded.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

Sakura's scream was drowned out by the eardrum-busting clap of detonation, which knocked her and most of the Alliance's forces on their backs. Sakura watched in growing shock and despair as Sasuke was caught in the blast, the white brightness burning her retinas and blinding her instantly.

Barely it subsided, clearing the ground which was cracked and pulverized, Sakura, not even waiting for her vision to return, scrambled forward desperately, searching for the familiar chakra of her teammate. A weak, flickering pulse of it was like a beacon of hope and she rushed to it in panic. She needed to make it in time!

Sakura fell to her knees beside Sasuke's crumpled, mangled and bloodied form, medical chakra already gathered in her palms.

"Hang in there, Sasuke-kun," she whispered through her whitened lips and got to work.

* * *

In Sasuke's mind there was only the persistent need to save his teammates. So after he grabbed Sakura and left her in a secure place, away from the coming detonation of the Bijuu chakra, he sped in order to reach Naruto and aid him in staving off the attack.

Then, there was only a white flame as a burning heavy weight smashed into his body.

Sasuke was swallowed by darkness and for a long time he knew no more.

After eternity, he saw a small light, like a single star twinkling on a night sky, devoid of anything else. Hesitantly, he moved closer to it and it started becoming bigger, first like a pea, then a small coin, a full moon, a plate...

The sound came next. He thought he heard a soft call, a gentle but cheerful song, finally happy voices of people. "Sasuke, come to us," they said and he paused unsure.

"Sasuke-chan, come to me. I was waiting so long," he heard a woman and he recognized that it was his mother. With a cry, he rushed to the light.

* * *

She was losing him. She was losing her teammate, the love of her life, the one she just got back from the depths of hatred that had chained him for most of his life.

Sakura pumped her energy into his body, desperately fighting for his pulse to beat, for his breathing to continue, for his blood to stop running.

Her eyes burned with unshed tears and she didn't have any saliva to swallow and soothe her raw throat, but she pushed on. And when her chakra wasn't enough as his soul was already leaving, she didn't hesitate to dive down and share her own shaky breath with him while massaging his heart with just a hand, while concentrating the energy in the other one on knitting his worst injuries.

Sasuke's lips were cold but Sakura wouldn't surrender him to death.

_Please, stay with me, Sasuke-kun,_ she pleaded in her mind. She couldn't lose him again, not after just getting him back. She would not lose him.

* * *

"Sasuke!" a sharp, commanding cry that demanded nothing but absolute obedience stopped him in his tracks. Sasuke swiveled around to see his brother.

"Aniki..."

"You can't go there," Itachi told him, the lines on his face deep like groves. "There are still things left unfinished. You cannot rest now, Sasuke."

"But, aniki, I heard mother," he protested, because there his heart was pure like a child's again and he was just a boy who missed his family very, very much.

"I know. I'll go to her, to them and we all will wait for you. You still have much to do. There are other people waiting for you, remember?" Itachi reminded him gently.

Sasuke nodded, tears streaking down from his eyes unabashedly.

"Now, go. Goodbye, Sasuke," Itachi smiled and his figure melted into surrounding darkness.

Sasuke turned away from the light and marched forward. Unknown to him, it disappeared altogether as if the night sky closed up on the slight tear it caused.

* * *

The hallway was too white and clear and the young man walking it felt uncomfortable as it smelled of too many disinfectants. He shrugged and after lightly knocking entered a small, private room, which was equally white, the only colour in it provided by red clothes of a young woman sitting in visitor's chair beside the bed.

"Hi, Sakura-chan," the newcomer said awkwardly.

She didn't turn to him, but returned his greeting in a subdued manner.

Naruto ambled closer to stand by her chair and looked at the patient, laying on the bed. If he wasn't swathed in so many bandages, if there wasn't so much machinery attached to him, beeping steadily, the blond would have thought that he was just sleeping.

In a way, he was.

"How is teme?" Naruto asked quietly, glancing at Sakura and noticing how she lightly held Sasuke's hand, stroking his knuckles with her finger pads. The sight was heartbreaking and Naruto held back the choking, sorrowful feeling and forced a smile on his face. He couldn't lose hope so soon, they just got Sasuke back! The coma was just a minor setback, he knew that. No way teme would be so weak to lose to something like that!

"Still unresponsive," Sakura replied absently, not once turning to look at her remaining teammate.

"He'll wake up."

_He has to_, Naruto thought grimly, watching Sakura trace Sasuke's knuckles back and forth, back and forth.

She nodded mutely in response.

It was three months after the end of the war.

* * *

The place he found himself in was desolate.

On his right, a soothing waves of the ocean, on his left – whitish expanse of sand stretching to the flat line of the horizon. There was nothing else in sight.

It was neither day or night, as there was no sun or clouds covering it, just a soft glow filling the air.

So he just walked aimlessly, the salty water lapping at his feet, no destination set in mind.

Sometimes, he heard voices – echoing, distant ones, soft murmurs. Most often it was one voice – the voice of a woman, hauntingly familiar. He strained to listen to what she was saying, but the waves ran interference, taking away meaning from her words.

Sometimes, he felt a pleasant warmth on one of his hands or on his cheek.

He smiled and walked on, the ocean and the sand unchanging.

* * *

Sakura entered the hospital with a bouquet of white daffodils in her hand. She wasn't on duty this day but everyone knew her and greeted her respectfully, to which she responded with a smile.

A smile that quickly turned into a frown as she heard pitying whispers behind her back. Before her anger took a hold of her, she quickened her stride.

Everyone knew who she was visiting – Uchiha Sasuke, the pardoned ex-criminal and Alliance's hero, who was a comatose patient in the hospital for half a year already. Possibly – till the day he died, most likely by the doctors pulling the plug on him.

Sakura let herself into his room and closed the door with a soft click. After checking by the force of habit that everything was fine, she settled into her chair and took his hand in her own.

"Sasuke-kun, it's me, Sakura. I've brought you some flowers," she spoke to him softly.

No response. His pale skin was almost as white as the bandages that for so long had covered it. Sakura stroked his smooth, marble-like cheek delicately. She had shaved him the previous day.

Sakura was the only one who knew his body inside out. She was the one who kept him alive, the one who healed him after the explosion. She restored his body from the mutilated lump of burned, broken flesh to its former state. She regularly attended to all its needs, stubbornly preserving its functions. She washed and shaved him. She cut his hair when it got too long.

She even went ahead of herself and bought him clothes for when he would wake up. It was just a matter of time, she knew it.

"I have a mission tomorrow, Sasuke-kun, but I'll be back in two weeks," she told him, then reached into her bag and took out a book. "I'll read to you, as always. I think you would like this one. It's about a boy who wants to become a samurai..."

Sakura started reading, hoping that in some way he would hear her, sense her. She didn't realize there was a presence right outside the window, listening to her.

Kakashi shook his head in worry. Sakura was spending most of her time at the hospital, with Sasuke. They almost never saw her around anymore, unless they were injured or came to visit Sasuke, too. Kakashi was glad he managed to get a mission for their team that required Sakura's medical techniques. Maybe that would help her realize some causes were just lost from the start.

Two weeks later the team was returning from the successful mission. Their spirits were raised, although Kakashi couldn't not notice that Sakura was unconsciously picking up her pace the closer they were to Konoha, some anxiety brewing in her expression.

"So, Naruto, Sakura, Sai, I was thinking about the future," he began.

"You're not going to retire, are you, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto joked.

"No, I was thinking about you three. It's a high time that you would try for jonin."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, eager to move up in ranks and be closer to the Hokage title, as he had been already promoted to chunin during the war. Sai smiled like he always did. But Sakura... she bit her lip, staring ahead intently.

"Sorry, sensei, but I'll pass," she replied quietly, but firmly.

"Eh? Sakura-chan, why?" Naruto asked, flabbergasted.

"I'm going to ask for a permanent job in the hospital, so I won't be taking anymore missions out of the village," Sakura explained sensibly. The true reason behind it was however all too obvious to them all.

"Hag, you don't make any sense," Sai spoke up bluntly. "You shouldn't throw away your career for the sake of a man who's never going to wake up."

Everyone stopped their tree jumping as the killing intent spiked. Naruto wore a horrified expression, while Sai gave a clueless smile, not understanding what he had said wrong. Kakashi sighed under his mask.

Sakura lowered her head, so they wouldn't see her face. Her fists trembled at her sides, ready to unleash her anger.

"Don't you ever say that again," she gritted out. "Don't you dare... or I won't hold back," the seriousness of her threat had a chilling quality. "Sasuke-kun will wake up... I believe in him!"

She raised her head and they saw her slightly damp eyes burning fiercely, jaw clenched in a scowl as she waited for any of them to contradict her. No one said anything.

"Let's go," Sakura ordered and not waiting for the rest of the team, shot forward, racing to Konoha.

To Sasuke.

* * *

For a long time, though he couldn't tell how long, because there was no sun or moon or stars to measure it by, Sasuke walked, little by little remembering things that he had lost and forgotten – his mother's bedtime stories, the way his father smiled, playing hide-and-seek in the house with Itachi. Then – Naruto's stupid challenges and how they understood each other silently, without talking, like brothers they were in all but blood. Kakashi's perverted giggles and subtle mentoring, pushing him to work with the team. Sakura's concern for him, always and how it made him feel less lonely. Even the rare comfortable silences in the company of Team Taka.

Sasuke remembered all about the people he ever cared for.

The voices he heard were getting more distant, all except one and he knew in his heart that it was undoubtedly Sakura's. Soon, she was the only one speaking and when even she stopped and the silence reigned over this bland world, Sasuke became worried.

He felt left alone, abandoned by her and it hurt in his chest.

The return of her voice, no matter that he didn't really hear what she was saying, brought a welcome relief. However, Sasuke was walking faster now. He had a feeling if he did it, he would reach his destination much sooner, besides he wasn't really getting tired.

He wanted to hear Sakura's voice clearly. He wanted to see her.

"Why are you always so annoying?" he asked but there was no answer.

Still, he walked faster.

* * *

Eight months ago, the war had ended.

A month ago, Naruto and Sai became jonins.

Sasuke's room was quiet and in moments of her weakness, which she so detested, Sakura wondered if all her efforts were simply prolonging the agony and Sasuke's death was imminent and inevitable. Even statistics were against him – most of the ninja who didn't wake from the coma after half a year, didn't wake at all.

All the others moved on – Naruto was busy with missions and the Hokage training, Sai with his return to ANBU, Kakashi... he seemed to spend even more time at the memorial and Sakura had a hunch that among all the loved ones he had lost, he was also mourning Sasuke. All of them visited rarely. Even Naruto seemed to accept that he was helpless, that he couldn't magically rouse Sasuke from the deep, death-like sleep he was in. Only she was left on the post by Sasuke's bed.

Sakura didn't begrudge them that. They were valuable shinobi of the village and they had a duty to uphold. They were in the world of living, while Sasuke and she seemed to be entrenched in the twilight zone, on the border between life and death.

But, Sasuke's condition was deteriorating.

She performed thousands of scans with medical chakra, all without any result. There was no cause found and she could only watch as the energy was draining from his body.

Sometimes, she thought she lived in a nightmare, the horrible reality and her dreams blurring into one as her heart cracked little by little from the pressure and pain.

Sakura cried and prayed in the darkness of midnight, beneath her covers.

* * *

In surprise and with a big dose of excitement, Sasuke noted that this world was changing. The wind appeared, slamming in his body, trying to slow him down and Sasuke laughed, delighted in the challenge of resisting its pull. The soft glow dimmed and the waves became high and strong, beating on the seashore and trying to greedily swallow more of it.

In the distance, Sasuke saw a cliff.

Sure that it was his final destination, he ran to it, against the wind and waves.

He wanted to see Sakura. She would be there, he just knew.

* * *

Almost a year after he had fallen into the coma, Sasuke was dying. His body was weakening against some invisible, untraceable onslaught and no therapy could cure him, only stall the death which was almost knocking on his doors.

Sakura barely left his bedside, holding his bony hand in hers delicately as if it was an injured small bird. His chest was rising and falling in laboured breathing. Soon, he would need full life support but Sakura desperately didn't want him to need it. She felt that in the moment the breathing mask would be put on him, he would be truly and irrevocably lost to her.

So, against all reason, she waited.

* * *

Sasuke climbed to the top of the cliff, breathless, and looked around. The ocean was intimidating black-gray, churning and rolling as the waves smashed into the jagged rock. The wind whipped Sasuke's body and slapped his face in punishment for his defiance.

Sasuke didn't care because there was no Sakura in sight.

Why? He didn't understand. What was he supposed to do there if she wasn't around?

Then, for the first time since his journey started, he heard her words.

_Sasuke-kun, please, wake up... Please..._

Sasuke frowned. Why was she crying?

"Sakura, I'm here! Where are you?!" he shouted.

* * *

It was the middle of the night and she couldn't sleep, so instead she stayed with Sasuke, drinking his presence in. Every little moment of his life was so precious, so fleeting it made her eyes moist from the indescribable pain.

"Sasuke-kun, please, wake up... Please..." she sobbed, caressing his black, dry and thin locks, bent over him in the prayer.

She felt a small jerk under her hand.

"Sasuke-kun?" she gasped and hurriedly channeled medical chakra to run a scan. Still nothing, but a glance at the EEG confirmed that something was happening. His brain activity picked up, causing the machines to beep faster.

Sakura send more of her chakra into his brain, checking everything meticulously, all the while looking at the EEG. She was feeling along his optical nerve when she hit a small bump of cells which she had previously thought to be a scarring from the transplant of Itachi's eyes.

It was a tumour and she realized it has been silently killing Sasuke all this time.

"Don't worry, you'll be alright, Sasuke-kun..." she whispered and closed her eyes in concentration.

Her chakra was destroying the malignant cells one by one, purging him of the disease. When the procedure was over, Sakura slumped on the bed wearily, too exhausted to move back into her seat.

* * *

The storm was getting stronger and Sasuke didn't have a way to escape as large cracks appeared in the rocky cliff, preventing him from returning to the sandy, safe ground. The land mass he was standing on shook and groaned under the merciless pounding of furious black waters. Small stones were crumbling away, disappearing in the depths.

If he stayed, he was going to die. The only way out was also a certain death.

Sasuke wasn't a coward. There was no point in staying.

He jumped off the cliff and the darkness swallowed him whole in its insatiable hunger.

…

…

…

With a gasp, Sasuke opened his eyes then squinted as the morning light hurt them. He felt weak and strangely heavy. He couldn't even lift a hand to sweep his fringe out of his eyes.

No, it's not that he couldn't move his hand. Something was keeping it down...

Sasuke looked down his body, past the white hospital covers and saw a mass of pink.

"Sa...ku...ra..." he weakly rasped out, his throat dry like a desert.

The mass of pink shuddered and the kunoichi rose her torso from the bed with a groan of a person who had slept in a very uncomfortable position. Her green eyes met his dark, _open_ ones.

"S-Sasuke-kun!" she gasped in disbelief, pure happiness in her expression as she hugged him. Hot, wet droplets dampened his neck, when she buried her face in the crook between it and his shoulder. He didn't mind it at all.

"Sakura... I'm here."

Sasuke was finally back.


	31. The Uchiha Treasures

**Title:** The Uchiha Treasures

**Summary: **Sasuke and the team look around the remains of the Uchiha district.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.  
**Prompt:** Unexpected Wealth  
**Rating:** K  
**Warning(s): **None.  
**Comments: **None.

* * *

"So, what are we doing here?" Naruto asked.

Despite his light tone, the question wasn't all that unfounded. Before the members of Team Kakashi stretched the large plot of land that looked like a hurricane went through it, turning everything on its path into rubble. Only a faint fan emblem on a small part of a once high wall surrounding the place indicated that it had been the Uchiha district. After Pain's invasion, no one took care to clean around here, too busy with the restoration of the village to concern themselves with an estate inhabited only by ghosts and the moaning wind.

"We're looking around," Sasuke replied in monotone and strode forward, jumping over a fallen lamp post that obstructed his way.

Naruto and Sakura followed quietly. It felt just wrong to have a casual conversation or behave too loudly when they knew what had happened in the district so many years ago. It would have been too disrespectful.

Sasuke stopped a little way from the smashed gates, staring pensively at the rubble. When his teammates joined him in a sombre silence, he didn't look at them.

"It was my aunt's and uncle's senbei shop," he told them. Then, turning suddenly away from the sight of leveled down building smelling of rotting wood, Sasuke marched on through the district, not stopping any more. His teammates hurried after him, refusing to let him deal alone with the destruction of his family's grounds.

They were approximately in the center of the district when Sasuke abruptly halted.

"What is it, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura queried, instantly worried.

"My house... was there," he pointed at another large, indistinctive pile of rubble.

Both Sakura and Naruto imagined just what Sasuke was going through, seeing the place brimming with precious memories of his family, the good and the bad, in ruins. They experienced the same thing when faced with utter destruction Pain had brought to the village.

It was ironic just how an accurate metaphor the house – the whole district – made of Sasuke's life until now. Alone and broken...

Now it was their duty as friends and comrades to support Sasuke with picking up the pieces and rebuilding all that he'd lost.

"Do you want... to see if something survived?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

Sasuke furrowed his brow and slowly nodded.

As they waded through the site morosely, looking around carefully, they eventually separated. Sakura curled her lips in distaste at the smell of decay. It was understandable since everything there was subjected to the elements for more than a year.

A silver glimmer under a wooden beam prompted her to take a closer look. Sakura effortlessly lifted the obstacle which had been supporting the house's roof and set it carelessly on the ground a step away.

What she found was a stylish cabinet – as stylish as it could be when covered with moss and fungi. It was sturdy enough not to be broken altogether though no doubt it went through its own share of rough tumbles. It was laying on a side so Sakura righted it, but it stood lopsided, as its two opposite legs were missing.

The cabinet had four drawers and Sakura was already reaching out to open the first one, curious what it could hold, when she was grabbed by uncertainty. Maybe she should have called Sasuke over? He had the right to see what was inside first, after all it legally belonged to him. She glanced around but none of her teammates were within sight. What if Sasuke was busy with his own findings? What if there was nothing of interest in the cabinet? Then she would have called him for nothing and made a fool of herself. Also, she didn't really feel like carrying the furniture and searching for Sasuke.

One look wouldn't hurt, Sakura decided and opened the first drawer, though her excitement of the discovery was quickly replaced by disappointment as there was nothing in there besides dust balls. Sakura sneezed and closed it then opened the second one and found a lot of porcelain shards of a set of cat figurines. She supposed they had been very cute and felt a little sad they couldn't be repaired.

In the third drawer Sakura found an old photo album which she eagerly cracked open. All the photographs were really old, black and white, most of them yellowed from age. She didn't recognize anyone on the pictures. She flipped through the pages and at the very end, tucked behind the back cover, she found a few colour photos, featuring a young couple alone and with two little boys. The smaller one looked like Sasuke and Sakura realized the young couple must have been his parents. The kunoichi smiled and closed the photo album, immensely pleased with finding such a treasure.

As the last drawer was empty, Sakura stood up and began her search anew without much results. Finally she met up with Naruto and Sasuke who were looking through something. Leaning over their shoulders, she saw a collection of rusty knives with Uchiha emblems carved into the handles.

"Oh, Sakura-chan, you're here!" Naruto beamed. "Did you find anything?"

"Of course," she said and handed the photo album over to Sasuke. "Your family's photos are at the end."

Sasuke nodded in thanks but didn't check inside. Sakura supposed he wanted to save it for when he would be alone.

"So, who found these knives?" she asked.

"I did!" Naruto grinned. "Nice catch, right?"

"Sure," Sakura smiled at him but her eyes imperceptibly narrowed when she spotted a bit of blood on his palm when he raised it scratch behind his ear. "Naruto, did you cut yourself with these knives?"

"Er, yeah? But it's nothing, I heal quickly!"

Despite Naruto's protests that he was perfectly fine, Sakura snatched his arm and felt around the area with medical chakra, all the while lecturing him about dangers of getting the tetanus. They didn't notice Sasuke's small scowl at their friendly interaction or how his fingers tightened around something in his pants' pocket.

After that, they all searched some more but in the end came out empty-handed. Most of the valuable or useful stuff in the house had been taken to Sasuke's old apartment Konoha had given him to live in after the massacre and in consequence all of it had been lost due to the Pain's attack.

It was late afternoon when Naruto excused himself saying something about being late for ramen and racing away to Ichiraku, however Sakura suspected his hurry had more to do with who he would be eating with. She waved after him, wishing him good luck on his date inwardly.

Sakura glanced at silent Sasuke, pondering if she should also leave and let him be alone as she knew about his need for a personal time. A frown on his face hastened her decision to depart.

"I'll get going too, Sasuke-kun. Bye," she turned to go, but he grabbed her wrist, halting her steps.

"Sakura, wait."

She faced him again, her heart pounding for no reason. Why did she feel so flustered? He didn't even do anything to warrant such a reaction from her! Still, the warmth on her wrist lingered even as he released it from his grasp.

"Y-yes?" Sakura cursed herself for stuttering.

"I..." he began but clammed up, thinking something over. Finally, he sighed and just seized her hand again, putting in it something cold he took out from his pocket. "Here. It's for you."

Sakura looked at the item. It was a silver necklace with a small charm in the shape of the Uchiha emblem. She couldn't stop a small reddening on her cheeks.

"I found it today. I think it was my mother's," Sasuke told her.

"I-I can't take it, Sasuke-kun," she tried to give it back to him.

"Don't be annoying, I don't need jewelry," he scoffed.

"B-but..."

"Sakura, just take it. Think of it as a late gift for your chunin promotion," Sasuke didn't take "no" for an answer. Reluctantly, she nodded and moved to put the necklace in her pocket when he stopped her.

"Wear it," Sasuke said and there was some sort of a seriousness in his tone that after a small pause Sakura followed his demand and unclipped the fastener. When she had trouble clipping it back on, Sasuke stepped behind her and helped her.

Sakura felt different and a little strange with the small weight of the necklace settled around her neck. She fingered the charm gently and righted it on her cleavage.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun," she said shyly, meeting his dark eyes and saw a quick quirk of his lips. Was that a smile?

"It looks... good on you," he offered and she almost did a double-take. Since when Sasuke started complimenting girls, let alone their appearance and not fighting prowess?

Sakura realized she was blatantly staring at him when he raised an eyebrow at her. She snapped her gaze away from his damnably handsome face, fixing it on the ruins.

"Sakura," Sasuke broke a moment of silence. She didn't respond, waiting for him to continue. "Will you help me with the rebuilding?"

She turned to him and sent him a soft smile. "You don't have to ask. I'm your teammate and friend, of course I will."

"I didn't mean it like that," Sasuke shook his head and gave her an intent, penetrating look. Her heart thudded in her chest when he took her hand and raised it to his lips. "Not as a friend, will you help me as someone who loves me?"

Sakura gasped, her eyes watering slightly. "Y-yes... that is, if you want me to," she stumbled over her words but she needed to be absolutely sure that she didn't misinterpret Sasuke's intentions.

His lips tugged up and his eyes lit up in a breathtaking, happy smile, a first genuine smile she has ever seen on his face. Then, suddenly he was lowering himself to her as his arms wound around her waist and cupped her nape, pulling her closer. His lips brushed hers hesitantly for a short, sweet moment and Sakura forgot entirely how to breathe.

"Thank you, Sakura," he murmured, his mouth a graze away from hers and this time it was her who kissed him.

This day was the brand new beginning for Sasuke and Sakura and the dawn of the new Uchiha clan.

* * *

_AN: This is the last story. I had a few SasuSaku ideas which didn't fit with any of the prompts, so most probably I'll just write them in separate one-shots._

_Thank you all for reading! :)))_


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